


Under a Cheshire Moon

by emberblack



Series: Little Red [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, I've stared at it for so long that I hate it, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2k15, Not Beta'd, Werewolves, and I need outside opinions, please be kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 49,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8131679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emberblack/pseuds/emberblack
Summary: It's been years since Ava could call someplace home.  Years since she felt like she could settle down long enough to even try.  But she was tired, and this town almost felt like it could be a place called home.  She was tired of running.  She was tired of her past chasing her all too literally.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a long time since she had found herself running through the woods, casting furtive glances behind her to make sure that she was just out of reach. She almost wished she didn't have her backpack of things, so she could run at least a little faster. She stumbled over something sticking out of the brush and she almost fell, her hand slapping into a tree to keep herself upright. She swore softly when she felt a sharp sting in the center of her palm but she didn't have time to stop. 

When lights finally appeared in the distance she almost cried. She'd been running for hours, and really needed to rest before she collapsed. She didn't really know what would happened if he caught her. In all her years of running she still had not been caught. As the lights grew closer, she hoped that it wasn't just a solitary house. She knew the chances of someone letting her in at this time of night, sweaty and disheveled as she was, was highly slim. 

Her relief was almost palpable when she got close enough to see that it was a bus stop. She could hardly believe that she was so lucky. At most she was hoping for a truck diner or a gas station or even just a 24-hour gas station. She slowed to a walk right before she walked past the large windows. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the large map on the wall as she was walking up to the teller. “A one way ticket to Ridgewood, please.” She smiled at the older man behind the counter as he counted her money. She then went to sit on the hard plastic chairs in front of the window, trying to get comfortable enough to get at least a little bit of sleep before the bus came. 

She found herself looking up at the pale, pale moon. It was a Cheshire moon, it's thin line of a mouth angled away from the dark trees. She should have known something was going to happen when she saw it outside her window early in the evening. She could remember the warnings she'd been given about Cheshire moons. Trickster's moon, they had told her. An omen of ill tiding that had come true. It had been a long time since she had to literally run away. The past few years had calmed them both down. Something must have triggered him, but she couldn't even begin to fathom what it could have been. “Damn you, Wes.” She murmured, finally finding a comfortable enough spot to start to drift. 

Her dreams were filled with colored leaves of fall, softly lit in the way only dreams can be. Maple trees and birch trees towering over her. Trees from her childhood. Trees from before all this. She woke to people rustling around and looking out the windows. “Look at that big dog! Oh, he's a beauty. I wonder what he's doing out there?” She laughed softly to herself as a couple of people went to try and coax him towards them with food and whistles. She watched him glance at them warily before inching away from them. He then spotted her through the window and his body tensed as he focused on her. She frowned, gripping her backpack tighter to her. 

He jumped when someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, glancing sourly at them before showing teeth. They quickly backed up, palms up as if that would help against a dog. He glanced at her again before bounding back into the forest. She relaxed after a second, knowing that he wouldn't be coming back any time soon, not after being grabbed like that. She could hardly believe that he had let himself get so distracted that a someone could sneak up on him like that. She hoped this town would last longer before she had to leave. She was so tired of running. Shaking her head, she tried to drift off again. There were still a few more hours before the bus came and she had to start all over again.


	2. Chapter 2

Ava sighed as she broke down another box. On one hand, she was extraordinarily thankful that her neighbor in the next apartment sent her all of her things. On the other, she absolutely hated unpacking. She almost wished that she could just start over with all of her things. But that got expensive, as she knew from experience. She flopped onto her bed, an actual bed, not just a futon or a lumpy couch. She'd slept on too many of those in the past. She had a quite a few more boxes to unpack, but she figured it could wait. It was surprising how much stuff she had collected. Amazing what you could collect when you weren't worried about having to run every few months. She looked around her new bedroom, gathering in the white walls and large windows. She'd have to ask if it was okay to paint. It would be nice if she could tone the walls into something darker that wouldn't reflect the bright morning sun. 

Sighing, she stretched for a moment before sitting up. She'd better get some food into the house. She slipped into some comfortable shoes and jogging downstairs. She stepped outside and looked around for her her kind of roommate, who was no where in sight, before starting towards the little grocery store downtown. Ridgewood was a small town, but large enough that everyone wasn't staring at her for being the new face. She was already starting to like this town. The past few places she had stayed had made her feel like she was drowning in urban towers. And there were woods surrounding the town, so she had someplace to run again. She didn't have to deal with mediocre excuses for forests and parks that cities were so fond of. 

It didn't take her long to get to the grocery store, and she wandered through the aisles, picking up enough necessities to get her through the next couple of days until she could unpack all of her kitchenware. She also picked up some blankets, knowing she didn't have anything suitable to what the winter season would most likely require, some new shampoos and lotions and other toiletries. There was an attractive cashier in the line that she picked. “You must be new around here. I'm sure I'd remember such a pretty face if we'd met before.” She couldn't help but blush at his flirty demeanor. He was checking her items at a slow pace, but none of the shoppers behind her seemed to mind. 

“How kind,” she chuckled as she glanced at the name tag pinned to his apron, “Jason.”

His smile grew wider. “You can call my name anytime,” He said with a wink, “or you could just call my cell.” Pulling out a pen, he scribbled out his number on the back of receipt. She laughed softly at the corny line as she was picking up her bags. He hurriedly stuck the receipt in one of the bags before she picked it up. “Seriously, call me. I always have time for such a pretty girl.” She waved and smiled as she left the store, not making any promises. The smile stayed on her face as she tried to map out as much of the town as she could on her way home. If she was being honest with herself, this was exactly the kind of town she loved. The trees stood tall, gorgeous deciduous that were just beginning to turn for the fall season, people chatting softly with their neighbors on their front porches or front lawns, little stores full of handmade items that were each unique and one of kind. The kind of town that became home quickly. 

And for Ava, that was dangerous. Her smile fell as she went into her house, closing the door firmly behind her. Her shoulders drooped as she went into the kitchen, dropping her bags on the island counter before sinking to the floor beside it. Of course she could call Jason the grocer boy and flirt with him, and go out on dates. He would be a gentleman, and do everything right. She could fall into a routine, go to work, come home, talk to her friends, hang out with a boy. Ridgewood would become her home and that's when everything would fall apart.

Every time everything started going right was right when Wes would bare his teeth a little too much and she'd have to move again. Honestly, she was beginning to become exhausted by this kind of life. Always running never having enough time to just live. She wasn't the same teen with a fiery temper and high energy that always needed something to occupy her mind to keep it off of other things. She wanted to settle down. Have someplace that was home and an almost boring routine. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. No use worrying over things that hadn't happened yet. She hadn't seen hide or tail from Wes so far. It had only been an week and a half since she moved here, but he'd found her in less time before. At first it would always be subtle. A flash of color skulking into nearby trees to let her know that he'd found her again. 

Getting up off the floor, she started going through the bags. A small smile found it's way onto her face when she saw the receipt in one of the bags. She stared at it for a moment before making a split second decision and programming it into her phone. Just in case she decided to be social. In case she could ever afford to be social. She put her phone away and started putting things away. Of course, that's right when there came a knock from the front door. 

She went into the living room warily, trying to get a glimpse from the window to see who was on the other side. She was half afraid it was Wes, come to knock on her front door in lieu of all of the cloak and dagger of their relationship. Sometimes she thought that he got tired of all the running too. But she could see bright curly blonde hair and knew that she was just being paranoid. There wasn't anyway that could be him. She opened up the door with a tentative smile. “Hello?”

“Hi!” The blonde chirped, sticking out her hand and grinning widely. Ava absently recognized her as the girl she'd seen coming in and out of the other side of the duplex. “I'm Ruth, but almost everyone everyone calls me Ruthie.” Ava shook her hand, smiling a little easier and stepping back. 

“Want to come in?” She stepped over to her living room couch, motioning towards it in an attempt at being a good host. “Um, can I get you something to drink? I have some milk and . . . water.” She laughed a little self consciously. “I haven't really stocked up yet. I think I have some tea around here somewhere, if you'd like.” 

“I'm alright. I just wanted to meet you. I can't remember the last time someone lived on this side. It's been empty for ages. Not too many people move to Ridgewood. And I could hardly believe my luck that it was someone my age, and a girl! We can have sleepovers, and go to parties with each other, and check out guys, and -oh! I'm going about all this a little too fast, huh? I haven't even let you tell me your name yet.” She ducked her head almost bashfully.

“It's Ava.” She said, smiling at the shorter girl's enthusiasm and energy. “And honestly, I could really use a friend around here. It's always kind've scary to be new in a little town like this.” It would be nice to have someone to hang out with every once in a while. Even if they couldn't really get too close to each other. They sat down on the couch, Ava tucking her feet beneath her. “I might even rope you into helping me do some redecorating and unpacking if you'll let me.” She laughed.

“Oh, I'm totally willing! I'm studying to be an interior designer, I can help you pick out some really cool things to do to this side. You can come over to my side and see what I've done with mine to help get some ideas.” She scooted back to rest her back on the couch. “So have you walked around town yet? Met anyone else? Maybe someone cute?” She leaned forwards, excited about getting an inside scoop on the new girl, Ava supposed. She forgot how much little towns liked to talk. As long as she was careful, it shouldn't become a problem. Probably. 

“I haven't explored much yet. I've been too busy with unpacking and getting settled. I've been up to the grocery store, but that's about it. But I did meet Jason?” She tilted her head, as if she wasn't sure that was his name. As if she didn't program his number into her phone in a fit of defiance. 

“Oh, he's the town golden boy. Y'know, gorgeous, honor roll, football star. And he's such a sweetheart. I'm positive at least half of the school though about building picket fences with him.” The blonde gushed, grinning widely. “Please tell me you got his number.

Ava smiled, the conversation starting to sound a lot like the ones with Taylor, a lifetime ago. Taylor was always more interested in boys than in their studies. Not that Ava had been the most studious of students. Especially not after she fell in love. Mentally shaking her head, she returned back to the present. “Um, he wrote it on my receipt”

“Oh my god, he is straight out of a book, I swear.” She murmured dreamily before turning an eye on Ava. “You have to call him.” 

Startled at her commanding tone, it took her a moment to formulate her thoughts. “Isn't calling a little old fashioned? Shouldn't I just text him?” 

“Trust me, calling is the way to go. He'll totally be impressed by your go getter attitude. He loves those upbeat confident girls. Or, at least, he did in high school. It'll totally get him to ask you on a date.” 

“Well, shouldn't I just ask him out if I wanted to date him? If he likes go getters, or whatever.” 

Ruthie shook her head emphatically, her blonde hair bouncing everywhere. “Oh no. He's kinda has that a guy has to ask a girl. He's kinda into that traditional relationship roles that most guys think are outdated.” That almost sounded like another certain someone Ava knew. But Wes had loved that she had pushed and pushed until she had found out all his secrets. Never would have bothered about something as ridiculous as who asked who out first, so long as they were together. It took her a moment to realize that she had tuned Ruthie out. “ . . . and I can't believe that you said if you want to date him. Didn't you hear me say he's a sweetheart and a golden boy of the whole town? How is it even a question?”

“I just got out of an intense relationship right before I moved here. It's still a little fresh.” She pulled her knees closer to her, trying to emulate how she might have acted right after she first started running. People usually didn't ask too many questions when they thought it was an uncomfortable subject. “No matter how nice he is, I just don't think I'm ready to jump into the whole dating thing right now. I've barely even gotten settled into the house.” She motioned to all the boxes around the living room, which Ruth took as an opportunity to try and peek into a couple of the closer ones. 

“Jason would totally change your mind if you'd just let him. He would totally understand, I'm sure. “ Ava was beginning to think the girl couldn't sit still, as she started picking at the hem of her shirt. 

Maybe she could go on a couple of dates with him. A distraction from worrying about when Wes would show up would be nice. And who knew, maybe there'd actually be a spark there. Not that she could ever have a real relationship with him. Wes would show up and it was more than likely going to be sooner, rather than later. And gods knew what happened the last time she had messed around with the idea about being with someone. Besides, even without Wes interfering, eventually she'd have a lot of explaining to do. “No offense on him, but I doubt he could erase him from my mind.”

Ruthie perked up again, sensing more interesting information. “Well, if he's that great, you've got to tell me about him. Did you two break up because of the long distance thing? What if he moves here so you two can get back together?” 

And didn't that line of questioning really make her pause. What could she tell her about Wes? Not the truth. 'Oh, he's a werewolf, and he killed someone in high school.' Sighing softly, she tried to think of what he was like before everything fell apart. “He's crazy smart. He could fluently speak German by the time he was a freshman in high school. His family home schooled for a while until they all were older, family bonding or something like that. But he was always ahead of the rest of the class. And a huge athlete. He didn't play for any of the school teams, but he was almost always outside playing pretty much anything he and his cousin's could.

“And so, so family oriented. He always had time for his younger cousins and he had a huge family. The little ones were always under foot, always wanting their cooler cousin's attention. He never grew irritated with them, he was always so patient.” 

Ruth smiled dreamily, “That means he'd be a good family man.” It seemed like she was filling the blonde's head with false realities. But, a small voice inside of her said, growing in volume the longer it talked, is it really false if it's how he was? She almost viciously silenced it as Ruth continued. “Go on, tell me more.”

Ava leaned back as she tried to remember something other than the running, other than Phillip's death. “He used to speak in German all the time. He used to call me spatzi. It means sparrow. Or, at least, the slang means sparrow.” She smiled softly at Ruth's confused look. “Ava means little bird in some languages. He always told me that I reminded him of a sparrow, small and innocent, and brave. Something that needed to be protected. And he was like that with everyone he considered part of his friends. So protective of the people he loves.” 

“Oh, god. How could you leave?” The words hit Ava in the chest like a sledgehammer, knocking the smile off of her face. Sometimes she found herself lost in memories. Lost in what everything had been like and managed to forget about what had happened. 

“We were living in the city and they're not really the place for me. I like having space, not canned into tiny apartments like sardines.” Wes' words, because she had to swallow her own. Because it wasn't like she could say that he had killed someone to keep her safe, and she didn't know how to handle it, so she ran. And kept running to keep anyone else from dying around her. She cleared her throat, finding a knot in it all of a sudden. “So, I'm sorry to be a terrible hostess, but I still have to unpack my bedding. I've been sleeping on the couch, and I just can't do it for another night. It wreaks havoc on my back.” She knew that her smile didn't reach her eyes and she could tell that Ruth noticed that too. “It really was wonderful to finally meet you and we'll have to have a proper girl's night soon.”

Ruth nodded, obviously catching onto the hint that they had hit a sore wound. “Of course! Plus, we'll have to go to one of the parties that should be coming up soon. Gotta find you a few more girls to gossip with.” She said with an overly chipper wink and soft smile in attempts at lightening the mood. She let Ava walk her to the door, even though she protested that the layout was practically the same as her own. Ruthie stopped in the doorway, giving the brunette a thoughtful look before saying a soft goodbye. Ava thought that if she could let her guard down enough, that she would have found a really good best friend. 

She busied herself with unpacking, keeping her body busy so that her mind didn't have to think more than where to put everything. She didn't really have a whole lot that she had to unpack. She wasn't unpacking a lifetime of things, she was only unpacking a city when you know you probably won't be able to take everything with you when you leave. A couple of generic pictures that she had liked, little knick knacks that didn't mean anything, clothes and books. There were clothes that meant things from each city that she'd lived in the past several years. She tried not to linger on them as she put them away, in the back of her closet where she wouldn't have to look at them if she didn't want to. 

It was starting to be dusk by the time she decided she was finished for the night. She wandered on the porch attached to her bedroom and stared at the darkness creeping into the trees as the sun dropped below the horizon. When the final bits of orange and purple haze finally bled into the blue of night, she went back inside and pulled out a beat up laptop. She did a quick search on carnivores native to the area, and was pleased to find that there were only small game. Foxes, coyotes, and possibly some opossums or racoons. 

She made her way downstairs, making sure to pull all of the curtains as she went, not wanting any spying eyes. She went to the backdoor, cracking it open and taking a deep breath. The cool night air that told of fall's coming arrival called to her, and she quickly stripped down to nothing. And then she started to shift, her bones cracking and rearranging themselves into a new form. The first time she'd gone through the change it had hurt, oh had it hurt. But it was years after her first shift and the sharp pain had faded to a dull ache that faded quickly after her fur settled. 

She took another breath now that she could actually tell what was outside and the only thing she could smell was fresh air. All clear, her wolf said smugly now that she had finally been released from the mental cage Ava had constructed to keep from shifting for so long. She trotted outside happily ignoring the voice in lieu of turning to look at the other side of the duplex just in case Ruthie was looking outside, but the back of the house was dark. She had a makeshift grin on her face before she tore off into the woods, running as fast as she could. It had been so long since she'd let herself change. It feels so good to have dirt under our paws again. She inhaled deep lungfuls of fresh, crisp air, so used to the thick iron smog filled air of the city that she almost felt like her lungs didn't know how to handle it anymore. She stopped in her tracks when she caught the scent of a rabbit. Prey. She crouched down and followed the tantalizing scent. She found the rabbit a few feet away and it startled when she stood up. She chased after it for a while before taking a clean bite and ate some of it before leaving the rest for other carnivores. 

She spent another couple hours bounding around the trees, playing with sticks and falling leaves, and spooking all the other animals around her. She finally headed back home when her muscles began to protest after such a long period of disuse. She was weary when she made it back home, shaking the dirt off her fur before stepping back inside. She changed once she was fully inside, kicking the door shut before she went upstairs. She found the first nightshirt in her dresser before crawling into bed. This was what life was supposed to be, she heard before falling into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Ava woke to screaming. She scrambled out of bed and down the stairs, barely remembering to grab her pants off the back hallway floor before throwing open her back door. She found Ruthie the cause of the scream, but the girl was now oddly silent, staring at the ground with an intensity that should be criminal this early in the morning. The bottom of her pants were beginning to become wet from the dew on the grass, the sun not yet high enough in the sky to burn it off. She shook the girl softly to get her attention when she didn't answer to her name at first, “What's wrong?” 

She turned her tear filled gaze for a moment before looking back down at the ground and pointing. All Ava could see was her own footprints. She nearly cursed when she realized she was seeing her own paw prints as well. “I'm terrified of dogs. I-It's a phobia. I was bitten when I was a kid, really little. It was a really big dog and it just . . . bit me.” She looked pleadingly at Ava. “I'm going to get bitten again. They can smell fear, I hear it all the time and I'm terrified! I'm going to get bitten again.”

Ava coaxed the blonde to come inside with her, making a cup of warm chamomile tea and honey. She was still babbling when she set the mug down in front of her. “I used to go to therapy for it, my parents' idea, but he only made it worse. He'd try to show me all of the dogs that he had pictures of and he always gave me the dog plushies. He told my parents to make me sleep with them. But they just stared at me all night like they were starving. I can't handle a dog around, I really can't. Look what the last one did to me.” Her hands trembled when she lifted her shirt, showing a large, ugly scar on her side. “It broke three of my ribs and it bled everywhere. All over the floor. All over my parents' new carpet.”

Ava grasped the other girl's hands in her own, letting Ruth's shirt fall back down. “I'm sure it was just passing through. It won't be back, I promise. It was probably just a lost pet trying to find home.” She pushed the cup into Ruth's hands. The tea helped her calm down a little, enough to finally take some slow, measured breaths. 

“I'm sorry. They usually aren't this bad, I can usually sort've handle it. It's just . . . the paw prints were huge. Like it was a wolf or something.” She shook her head, drinking more of the tea. “And it was so close to the house. I'm being over dramatic I know. I'm trying to help it, I swear.”

Ava patted her gently on the back before getting up and going to the fridge to find something to make. She decided on an omelet before she spoke up. “It's perfectly normal to be afraid of things. “ She started on breakfast as she continued. “Do you want to know what I'm afraid of?” She waited for Ruthie's nod before she continued. “Planes. You couldn't catch me dead on one. And I've been all over the country. And I can't drive, so planes would make so much sense. But . . . it's all grey hounds and transits.” She set a plate down in front of each of them, and dug in. They ate in an easy silence, Ava quietly considering this side of her neighbor. She was glad to see this side of the girl, that she was more than what she had been trying to portray the day before. 

Once they were finished eating, Ava gathered everything up and put it in the sink to wash later. “Do you want to stay for a while?” She asked, turning to lean against the counter. Ruth shook her head, her head leaning on one hand. She gave Ava a sad smile before murmuring a soft thank you before leaving out of the back door. 

Ava started getting ready for the day as she reviewed the morning so far. She couldn't be so careless when she changed from now on. Ruth didn't deserve to be freaked out like that every time Ava wanted to go for a run. She'd have to warn Wes about it too, when he showed up. She didn't want him antagonizing both of them. 

She dropped back onto her bed, yawning widely. Now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, she could feel tiredness seeping back into her muscles. Shaking her head, she made herself get back up, finishing up getting ready and going back downstairs to make coffee. Today was her first day at her new job, a receptionist at a small law firm here in town. Making her coffee in a to go mug, she headed outside, casting a look back at Ruth's side of the duplex. 

The town seemed to be quiet this time of day, everyone she saw sleepy eyed and drowsy smiled. She was the first one to arrive at the building, but her boss arrived a few minutes after she did. “Miss Ava,” Adam greeted happily, more alert than anyone else she had seen so far this morning. “Catch any worms this morning?” He joked playfully as he unlocked the door. He was tall, burly, and had the disposition of a kitten, as she'd found out at her interview. She chuckled softly as she followed him in, automatically starting a pot of coffee. “You must me a morning person.” He accused, although he seemed like a morning person himself.

“Not without coffee,” she replied, gesturing to the mug she'd left on her desk. “You take yours blonde and with four sugars, right?” She asked as she sorted through the piles on her desk. 

“Astounding memory,” he complimented. “Although my wife has been complaining about my figure, so best make it two sugars.” He paused thoughtfully. “Or was she complaining about hers.” Ava found herself chuckling again as he shrugged, obviously not too concerned. “Most of those are older forms that need filed. They might not have files made already.”

She nodded, smiling when he glanced over at the still brewing pot of coffee. Maybe he wasn't as much of a morning person as she'd thought. “I'll bring back a cup when it's all finished,” she promised. He grinned in thanks before meandering back towards his office. She was about halfway through her first pile when the coffee was finished, and she took a break to take Adam back a cup. She was grateful that it was a slower day, not too many appointments, so she had time to work on the filing. 

Adam came out around noon. “Well, I'm half starved. There's a couple of places that will deliver here. I think there are some menus around here somewhere.” She pulled them out of the drawer that she had put them in earlier triumphantly. “Anything in particular sound good to you?” He asked as he flipped through the menus. It only took them a few moments to decide on what they wanted and Adam retreated back to his office to continue working while Ava called it in. He rushed out when they came, quickly grabbing the receipt, despite Ava's protests. “Consider it a bribe for you to stay and work during lunch so I'm not stuck here all by myself today.” She shook her head, but accepted her sandwich when he held it out to her. She was surprised when he sat in one of the waiting chairs, slowly starting to eat his lunch. “How are you liking Ridgewood so far?”

She gave an easy smile, “It's gorgeous here. I really love the trees and all of the space.”

He nodded knowingly. “It's why I ended up moving here instead of just having the practice here. My wife had come with me to look for a good building and she fell in love with it here. We were supposed to live about an hour and a half away, which would have been closer to where some of her family lives. Apparently, It's very close to what her hometown was like.” He was playing with his wedding ring by this point, a happy smile on his face. “Both of us are more accustomed to small town life, I think. Lawyer or not, I definitely like it better here than the city.” Ava nodded, she could definitely relate. After he finished eating he went back into his office,. 

It was quiet for the rest of the day, and she stayed busy with filing and Adam stayed back in his office working on his own work. Five o'clock rolled around fairly quickly, and she went back to his office to say a polite goodbye before leaving. He responded, but seemed mostly focused on the paperwork in front of him. She took her time walking home, watching children outside playing, everyone's faces happy and content. This was becoming dangerously close to her favourite town that she'd been to. The next time she had to run was really going to be dismal. When she finally made it home, Ruth was sitting on her front porch, distracted with something on her phone. She looked better than this morning, the color back in her cheeks and she didn't bear the wide eyed look of a terrified child. “Hey,” Ava greeted when she was beside the blonde. Ruthie looked up, a tentative smile on her face.

“Getting off work?” She asked with a critical eye at her office clothing. Ava nodded, making her way past to unlock her front door. She gestured for Ruthie to follow her inside, and she led her to the kitchen so she could start brewing herself a pot of tea before turning towards her new friend. “I just wanted to thank you for this morning. And to apologize for freaking out.” Ruth said, playing with the hem of her shirt again. “I'm sure it didn't make a very good start to your morning. Today was your first day, wasn't it?” 

Ava nodded, attending to the whistling teapot. “It's fine. I had set an early alarm today to make sure I wasn't late. I'm still figuring out how long it takes to get everywhere and I didn't want to be late on my first day of work.” She set out a couple kinds of tea on the island counter top, two steaming mugs of water in front of each girl. 

“Another reason I'm here is because I decided it was time to badger you about Jason again.” She said, a mischievous grin on her face. “And not just because he obviously thought you were cute. It never hurts to have another friend, and he definitely knows his way around town. He could probably tell you some shortcuts to get to work. “ Ava shook her head when Ruthie pushed her cell phone towards her. “I won't even eavesdrop very much. Just enough to give you some encouragement.” Ava buried her face in her mug, taking a sip of her tea to give herself some time to think about what she wanted to do. She didn't want to make too many friends in case she had to up and leave soon. It was always best not to leave too many people behind that would ask questions and start to wonder why you never came back for your stuff. 

She stopped herself for a minute, berating herself for what she had just thought. She was tired of having to keep running. And she was tired of missing out on things in life she could never have if she kept moving from town to town. And it wasn't even like she was trying to go out with this guy, she was just going to make another friend so that she wasn't holed up in her house all of the time. Steeling herself, she pressed the call button, resting an elbow on the counter top as she put the phone up to her ear. 

“Hello?”

“Hi.” Ava started, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “This is Ava . . . you gave me your number at the grocery store the other day?” She was half certain that he wouldn't even remember her. He probably gave his number out like that all the time. She knew what 'golden boys' were like. 

“Hey! I wasn't sure if you were really going to call me.” Ava made a noncommittal answer, trying to figure out what Ruth's wild hand gestures actually meant. She nearly jumped when he spoke again. “You still there?”

“Yeah, sorry. I got distracted from this dog running around in my front yard.” She invented, pausing in her story when Ruthie tugged the phone away from her and put it on speaker phone. “I couldn't tell if it was wearing a collar or not.” 

“Oh. Should I let you go?” 

“No, no. It's owner came up and got it back on the leash.” She lied, shrugging helplessly at Ruthie, who was doing her best not to bust into laughter. 

“Great! I'm glad they got him back.” He paused for a second before continuing. “So I'm having a get together sometime in the next couple of weeks. You should come.” 

“Can I bring my friend?” She asked, looking pleadingly at Ruthie. There was no way she was going by herself. Thankfully Ruth rolled her eyes like it was already a given. 

“Yeah, of course. So, I'll call you later with the details. It was really good to hear from you.”

They both gave their goodbyes before hanging up. “How was that 'only eavesdropping enough to give encouragement?” She asked, sticking her tongue out at the blonde.

“What, I couldn't hear! How am I supposed to give encouragement if I can't hear what he's saying?” She laughed, sticking her tongue out, too. Rolling her eyes, Ava went over to the fridge and grabbed out a couple of apples, offering one to Ruth, who accepted it happily. She took a big bite of the apple, “But we've got to find you something else to wear. This whole responsible adult think just isn't going to cut it.” Ava looked down at her clothes before faux glaring at her.

“These are my work clothes, you know.” She set her apple down and gestured to the office clothing she was wearing. “I'm a receptionist. This is my uniform. I do have age appropriate clothing for a get together.” She rolled her eyes when Ruthie started laughing so hard she doubled over. “I hope you drop your apple.” She sniffed, turning away and taking a bite out of her own. 

“You're so sensitive about your clothes.” Ruthie managed out, slowly settling down from the giggles. “And other than clothes, we still need to talk about how you feel acting around guys. From the way you were talking about that guy yesterday, he must be your only relationship. And it had to be serious, you were together since high school. So you can't have much experience.” She winked, “But that's what you have me for!”

Ava nudged her chair, with her foot. “We're only being friends, remember? And I'm not entirely sure why I invited you in. I don't think I signed up for all of this badgering about my 'inexperience' and my lack of style.”  
“Because I'm your new best friend that you couldn't possibly live without.” Ruthie replied, hopping down from the kitchen stool to throw away her apple core. Ava rolled her eyes as she wandered into the living room, plopping down. The girls chatted idly for another couple of hours, most of it bouncing between light hearted teasing and Ruthie telling Ava the ins and outs about the town. Where to eat, where to get good deals on clothes, and which walking trails were popular. It was scary how easily Ava had made space for Ruthie. How fast she let her in and had every intention of letting her stay close. She knew she was setting herself up for pain. Towns never lasted long.

She'd been naive when she had first began. She made many friends in those first few cities and towns, and made quick promises about keeping in touch. Somehow she never found herself making the call. And what would she say even if she did call? Tell them about how she was in yet another town, with another fake emergency that had made her move in the first place. She eventually learned that it was easier not to let anyone too close. That it wouldn't hurt if she didn't have anyone to miss. So she tried to just be another face in the crowd. But, she thought, as she watched Ruthie talk animatedly about a funny story from high school, maybe just one friend wouldn't hurt.


	4. Chapter 4

She fell into a routine, as she'd predicted. Her days at work were pleasant, and it was definitely a nice change from serving, which she'd done the past few towns because it was an easy job to find and leave without notice. She had finally met Adam's wife, who was just as pleasant as he'd described, and just as beautiful. Most nights Ruth would come over, but there were others that she was left to her books while Ruthie made deadlines for school, or wrote papers. A couple of weeks had went by barely noticed. Jason's party still loomed over her, but for the most part she was content. 

Which means she wasn't prepared for Wes to walk through the front door at work, looking as if he belonged there. Her only comfort was that he looked just as surprised to see her. It settled her fears of the idea of him knowing where she was this entire time. Both her and her wolf froze, although for two entirely different reasons. “Ava,” He murmured softly, stepping closer to her desk. “I didn't know you worked here. Actually, I wasn't even sure this was the right town.” He admitted, and she felt a sense of pride at the words. If he wasn't sure, then it meant that she was doing a good job at evading him.

Adam took this time to come out of the office, head buried in a file. “Oh, Ava. I forgot to tell you that I scheduled an appointment this afternoon a couple of days ago with a fellow at the coffee shop.” 

“I think he's here now,” She replied, trying her best to keep emotion out of her tone. On the inside, her wolf was wagging it's tail, practically prancing it was so happy. 

Adam looked up, grinning widely when he saw Wes standing in front of him. “Just in time,” he greeted, clapping the man on his shoulder. “I know you haven't got much time before you've got to get back to work, so you can come on back.” The taller man nodded, putting on a polite style, but his eyes were still on Ava. Thankfully, Adam didn't seem to notice, already heading back towards his office. Wes lingered for a few moments before turning and following him back, throwing one last furtive glance at her as if he thought she'd disappear if he took her eyes off her. 

Once they were out of sight and she heard the door close, she let out a slow breath. She tried to go back to her work and continue filing the stacks and stacks of paperwork that she kept finding everywhere, but she couldn't concentrate. Seeing Wes had definitely shaken her, and she kept sneaking glances back at the door, half afraid Wes would burst out of it to come and sweep her away. She practically jumped out of her chair when she heard it open, and she almost guiltily stared at her computer as she heard their voices coming up the hall. “You can make an appointment with Ava before you leave, I'm sure she can find something that will work with your schedule.”

She managed a smile when they stopped at her desk. Adam didn't linger, instead heading back towards his office. It was getting closer to five, so she assumed he was trying to get as much done as possible before it was time to go home. She almost wanted to ask him to stay with her, so that she had a reason to pretend that she didn't know Wes. She looked back at him to find that he was already watching her. “What days are you free?” She asked, not bothering to look away. 

“Ava . . .” He started, his dark eyes staring intently at her.

She forced herself to open the appointment software and look at the next week. “Adam has an appointment for next Wednesday at three o'clock. Would that work for you?” She hated that her hands were shaking, and she dropped them in her lap to keep Wes from seeing. She felt so weak and tired and sad now that she was finally in front of him. He'd stopped approaching her the past few towns and they'd had a sort of reluctant cohabitation from afar. 

He sighed, “Yeah, that'd be just fine.” He watched her as she put it into the computer, and continued to stare while she very slowly wrote out the time on an appointment card. She hesitated before giving it to him, knowing that she'd have to meet his eyes again. His fingers brushed hers when he took it and she jerked back. “What time do you get off? Can we talk after?” 

She shook her head, about to answer when Adam came back out of his office, obviously surprised to see Wes still there. “Oh, are you having some trouble finding a time?” 

Wes shook his head. “No, sir. I was just offering to walk Miss Ava home.”

Adam brightened, “How kind. It is starting to get darker sooner.” He peered outside as if he was afraid that the sun was going to disappear at that very second. “Actually, I was just coming up here to tell you that you were free to go for the day, Miss Ava.” She nodded mutely, grabbing her things slowly and murmuring a goodbye. Wes led her outside, brushing a soft hand in the small of her back. Once they were a ways away from the office, she took a few steps away from him, so there was a good foot between them. Wes didn't comment, just sighed, as if she was the one doing crazy things. But he was the one who had essentially cornered her at work. 

Ava sighed, kicking a rock as they walked. “How long have you been here, anyways?” She eyed him out of the corner of her eye, half expecting an untruthful answer.

“A couple of weeks.” He replied. “I was trying to give you some space to get settled. Honestly, I wasn't even sure that you really were here.” She felt a vicious kind of pride at that. It meant that she was doing okay at keeping away from him. Although if he'd been here that long, she was surprised that they hadn't run into each other sooner. It wasn't like they were in a big city with loads of options for stores. 

She didn't talk much the rest of the walk, although she was acutely aware of how close they were getting to her house. She stopped walking, and he stopped a few steps in front of her, tilting a curious head. “I don't want you to know where I live.” She blurted out, ducking her head as soon as she said it, feeling almost guilty. As you should, the wolf accused. He nodded slowly, his face a little blank as he came closer. 

“Can we go to dinner tonight?” He slowly reached towards her, giving her enough time to pull away. She took a couple steps back for good measure, and shook her head. “That's . . . fair. I guess I did blindside you today.” He looked away from her. “I guess I'll see you next week.” He turned and headed back in the other direction. She watched him until he turned the corner before turning towards her house. Once she was safely inside, she sagged against it, looking at her still trembling hands. 

She hoped that Ruthie hadn't seen her coming up the steps, knowing that she still looked like a wreck. Once she had settled her nerves a little, she went to the kitchen to start a cup of tea, hoping that it would settle the last of the jitters. Her first couple of sips settled like lead in her belly.  
The doorbell rang and almost made her jump. She was reminded of the first time it had rang, and how she'd been afraid it had been Wes. She opened it to see Ruthie, dressed in pajamas and holding a bag of chocolate. “You forgot,” she said, her face falling. “It was supposed to be girl's night.” 

“I didn't forget, I just . . . I ran into someone and I'm a little worked up.” She confessed, stepping back to let her in. 

Ruthie immediately settled on the couch, depositing all the candy on the end table and shooed her. “Well, go change and come back to tell me about it.” She sat on the couch, dumping her armful of candy onto the coffee table before pulling one of the couch cushions into her lap. Ava nodded slowly before heading upstairs to change. Once she was back downstairs in comfy clothes, settled on the couch beside her, Ruth turned towards her. “Well, who did you run into.”

“Wes,” She started, before she realized she had never told the blonde his name. “Ah, do you remember that guy I talked about?” Ruthie rolled her eyes and Ava continued. “He came into work today.” 

Ruthie gasped, “No way! Did he move here for you?” 

Ava smiled lightly, knowing she couldn't tell the truth. That Wes followed her everywhere. But she was good with lying by omission. “He looked just as surprised to see me as I was him.” She didn't want to linger too much on the subject, afraid it would lead to questions she couldn't answer. “Anyways, it's nothing serious. I just . . . wasn't expecting to see him.” She flashed her a smile before getting up and going to her dvd collection. “What are we watching tonight?”

Ruthie let the conversation slip away, coming up behind her to look over her shoulder. “How about that one?” She asked, plucking out one of the romance movies she owned. Ava let her put it in while she started to make popcorn. By the time she came back the last of the trailers were playing. She settled in and traded a bowl of popcorn for a bar of chocolate. She let herself be drawn into the movie, into the drama and the elation of the story. 

Three movies later, both girls were happy and full of junk food. “D'you want to crash here?” Ava asked, getting up and leaving the mess where it was. She could get it all tomorrow. Ruth nodded, following her up tiredly, practically dragging her feet. She flopped onto one side of the bed, groaning softly. Ava laughed as she crawled under the covers.

Ruth rolled towards her, “So . . . what's your dream guy like?” Ava snorted, and Ruth glared sleepily at her. “Come on, what kind of sleepover would this be if we didn't talk about guys before we fell asleep.” 

“One that didn't involve high school girls.” Ava muttered before gasping indignantly when Ruthie smacked her with a pillow. “Fine,” she laughed, pushing the pillow away from her face. “Ok, so . . . dream guy. He'd have to be gentle with kids. He'd have to be smart, and love the outdoors.” She couldn't help but make comparisons in her head. “And . . . he'd have to be a werewolf.” She bursted out laughing at the sleepy frown on Ruth's nose.

“Now who's a high school girl?” The blonde snuggled into the covers. “Mine would be a guy who wouldn't care about my scar or phobia of dogs. And one that would let me redecorate whenever I wanted.” She yawned. “I'll go through your clothes tomorrow.” Ava mumbled softly before falling into sleep.

–

Ruthie was draped over the counter, moaning about coffee. Ava rolled her eyes, setting a cup in front of the girl, full of milk and sugar. Ruthie took a small sip and sighed happily. Ava sat down with her own cup, thankful it was Saturday. “Why are we up again?” 

“You said I snored,” Ruthie muttered unhappily, making her way back up the stairs. Ava followed obediently, and flopping back down onto her bed, coffee on her nightstand. She lightly dozed while Ruthie rummaged through her closet, muttering quietly to herself . She woke up, however, when something soft landed on her stomach. “What about that?” Ruthie was still in the depths of her closet, and after a while she threw out a few more things that just barely made int on the bed. 

Ava picked up a red dress and raised an eyebrow. “Ruthie, this is a clubbing dress. Not exactly suitable for a just friends type of get together.” 

Ruthie popped her head out, “You had a clubbing phase?” Her eyes were crinkled like she was about to laugh, and Ava threw it back at her. “Oh come on, all these business clothes in here and you expect me not to be surprised that you used to go clubbing?” Rolling her eyes, Ava layed back on the bed and let the blonde rummage through her closet some more. She came back out a few hours later, nodding happily. “I think this will do.” She held out a slightly dressy shirt, a pair of skinny jeans, and her most comfortable boots. “I think this will make a good impression.” She smiled at her as she came to sit by her on the bed, sipping on her now cold coffee. 

“Thanks, Ruthie.” She got up and went to the bathroom to change. When she saw herself in the mirror, she fussed with her hair a little bit, trying to figure out if she should leave it alone or try to do something with the dark locks. She eventually decided to just leave it, after all it was just a get together between friends. That was it.

Ruthie had apparently gone home and changed by the time Ava came back out. She had a makeup bag on her lap, and she was carefully applying makeup in a tiny compact. She finished with lip gloss as Ava came to sit beside her. “Can I do your make up?” 

Ava shook her head. “No thanks, I think I'm good.” She smiled at Ruthie's pout. “At least we don't have to wait too long,” she pointed out, glancing at the clock on the wall. “There's only a couple of hours before we have to leave.” 

The girls decided on going to a pizza place, sharing a medium vegetable pizza and chatting idlly. By the time they had finished most of it, it was time to head to Jason's. They walked through the town, Ava still trying to get a feel where everything was. The house they came to was a nice, two story white picket fence, and Ava approached it nervously. Ruthie rolled her eyes and knocked on the door. Jason opened the door a few seconds later, a wide grin growing on his face when he saw them. “Ava! I wasn't sure you were going to make it. And . . . it's Ruth, right?” Ruthie practically beamed at being remembered. “Come on in, we're just playing video games right now.” 

The girls followed him into the living room, and found themselves in a room full of new faces. Jason quickly introduced everyone, but for some reason Ava was stuck on the boy sitting on the love seat, her wolf raising it's head to stare. “Ava, Ruthie, this is Tara, Garrett, Louis, Kyle, Anna, and Sylvia.” He pointed them out as he said their names. They all seemed friendly, with maybe the exception of Tara, who had a scowl on her face. Ruthie quickly sat on the love seat next to Garrett, leaving Ava to find a seat by herself. She sat on the couch beside the boy that she thought was Kyle.

“Nice to meet you,” He stuck out his hand for her to shake and she took it with a tentative smile. “I'm sure you must think we're all pretty immature, still playing video games. Promise we're not complete teenagers.” She laughed softly, shaking her head. He grinned back, looking up when Jason cuffed him lightly on the back of his head 

“Behave,” he muttered as he sat back on the couch, unpausing the game they were playing. She watched quietly as the boys played some shooter game, shouting obscenities, whether at each other or the game she couldn't tell. Kyle kept trying to include her in the conversation, or explain parts of the game to her. But every time he did, Jason would nudge him or obviously let his character die. The more time Ava spent around him, the more her wolf was unsettled. Her wolf had her hackles raised, as if waiting for something to happen.

The other girls started talking about food and they invited Ava to come with them. She casted a glance towards Ruth, but she seemed deeply enthralled in conversation with Garrett, so she followed the girls into the kitchen. She stood awkwardly towards the side while they rummaged through the cabinets and fridge. “So,” the brunette one she thought was Tara started, “What do you do, again?” 

“I'm a secretary,” She murmured, not really wanting to delve into her whole life story. Anna seemed a little uncomfortable, and Tara kept giving her these looks. “I like it so far. Nothing too taxing.” She was rambling, trying to distract the girl from whatever line of questioning she was on. Anna nodded, successfully pulling out some cookies. 

“You're not planning to date Jason, are you? Or Louis, right?” She gestured to the girl who was currently staring at the cookies. “Louis is Anna's boyfriend.” Anna looked up in horror for a moment before ducking her head again. Tara just looked like she was sizing her up, and Ava couldn't help but lift her chin. She felt like she was in high school all over again. 

“No, I'm not planning on dating them. I'm not planning on dating anyone.” She forced a laugh before accepting a cookie from Anna. 

“Oh, so you don't think that any of the guys are attractive?” She threw out, looking smug. 

Ava was really starting to get annoyed with this line of conversation. “I just went through a break up when I got moved here. It's going to be a long time before I start to look at anyone like that again.” It was true enough, she supposed. 

“And how long was this supposed relationship?” Tara turned he rnose up snootily. 

None of your business, Ava's wolf snarled as she forced a smile. “Five years.” It was true enough. It had been five years since she'd looked at someone like she had looked at Wes. Five years since she'd been on a real date. Since she'd had a real friend. 

Anna looked surprised for a quick moment, before smiling. “Louis and I have been together for about four years. I'm really sorry about your break up. I can't even imagine what I'd do without him.”

Ava smiled gratefully at her as she accepted another cookie. Tara looked like she smelled something horrible and opened her mouth to speak again. Ruth wandered into the kitchen by that time, all smiles. “Find anything to eat? I'm half starved.” She perked up when Anna handed her a cookie. “Awesome! Come on, Ava. I want you to meet Garrett.” She tugged her into the hallway, where she muttered a thanks. “Sorry, it took me a minute to realize that the girls had stolen you away. I'd have never have let Tara get you alone if I could help it. She was a bitch in high school, too.” She practically sat on top of Garrett so that Ava could fit on the love seat, too. “Garrett, this is my bestie Ava.”

“It's a pleasure.” Garrett grinned as he took a moment to look at her for the game. His gaze stuttered for a moment, causing his character to die. He tossed the controller over to Kyle without even looking. “Ruthie has nothing but good to say about you. Even when she's complaining about you.” He grinned widely when Ava gave the blonde a playfully offended push. “Ruthie's a great gal. We went to high school together. Wish we could have hung out more.”

Ruthie beamed at him, “We can always hang out now. As long as I'm not hanging out with Ava, or as long as she doesn't care if you tag along.” Ava spent the next couple of hours listening to Garrett and Ruthie, trying to learn as much as she could about him. She hadn't noticed signs of a pack in the woods, and there wasn't really a way she could miss that. He had to be a lone wolf, a beta. Because he didn't seem sick, and he definitely wasn't rabid. But she also didn't get that aura that most alphas had. 

She was also trying to ignore the glances Kyle kept shooting her way, but she still caught his eye every now and then. She gave him a small smile when he pulled faces at her. She didn't miss Jason's obvious disapproval of the interactions, however. It was getting dark by the time the girls were saying their goodbyes. The blonde was giving Garrett her number while Ava was saying goodbye to Kyle. Jason all but pushed him out of the way to say his goodbyes.

“Thanks for inviting me.” She said, looking over at Ruth, hoping she was almost ready to go. She still didn't like being alone with him, as Kyle had wandered off when he was pushed out of the way. Something about him gave her chills up her spine. 

“I'm glad you had fun,” he said, practically cornering her in the hallway. He treated her like p rey, she realized. That was what made her wolf so uncomfortable. We're not prey, it snarled. “So, are you free on Friday? I'd like to officially ask you out on a date.”

Ruthie popped up and grabbed Ava's arm. “We're having a girl's night that night.” Ava could have kissed her she was so relieved. “But I'm pretty sure she's free on Saturday.” The taller girl's stomach dropped when Jason smiled sickly sweet. 

“Awesome. I'll pick you up around seven, then.” He gave them both hugs before they left. 

Ava waited until they were well out of sight before she frowned at her best friend. “Ruthie, you practically gave me away.” The blonde looked at her in confusion. “You know, when you pimped me out to Jason on Saturday.” Ruthie doubled over in laughter while Ava just stared at her. “What's so funny?” She demanded. 

“You said I pimped you out.” She managed once she had finally composed herself. Ava huffed and started walking again, although she did have a smile on her face. She knew that Ruthie hadn't done it out of spite. “Wait, wait!” Ruthie gasped out, straightening up and hurrying after her. They walked in silence for a while. But then Ruthie spoke up. “I thought I was helping.”

“I know,” Ava sighed, “I just . . . I'm really not ready yet.” She debated before she added, “And there's something about Jason that just sets me on edge.” She'd learned long ago that her wolf was better with intuition than she was. Sometimes it had a better head than she did.

“I'm sure it's just jitters. Besides, if you need I can always give you an emergency call.” Ava smiled, linking arms with her. “No matter if it's just because you don't want to be there, or because he's terrible at dates, or if he smells horrible. Just duck into a bathroom and shoot me a text.”

“You're a pretty great friend.” She laughed when Ruthie primped her hair and tossed it back and forth. “Do you want to stay over again? I'm pretty sure we didn't eat all of the ice cream last night.” Ruthie rolled her eyes and all but dragged her back home. “And you'll have to tell me all about Garrett.” Ruth blushed, and Ava disentangled herself before taking off running, Ruth following after her. Neither of the girls noticed the wolf sitting just inside the tree line.


	5. Chapter 5

“Don't go.” Wes had just finished his appointment with Adam that day, his forehead crinkled from how hard he was frowning. “This Saturday. Please, don't go.” 

Ava sighed, looking back down at her computer and searching through the appointment app for free times next week. “I have something open for next Tuesday at two thirty, does that work?” She asked, clicking on the time and waiting for his confirmation. He sighed instead, and she gave in. “How do you even know about Saturday?' She watched him look down guiltily and she shook her head in disbelief. “You can't follow me around like this. Eventually someone is going to see you and realize you're not just a really big dog. And they're going to try and take you back from whatever preserve that you supposedly roamed from.” 

“I'm not going to stop. I am discreet, you know. And haven't I been handy every other time you've gotten into trouble?” His voice had started to rise a little, and Ava casted a furtive glance back towards Adam's door, hoping that Wes had closed it on his way out. Thankfully it was closed, and she brought her attention back to Wes and glared. “I don't like that boy. There's something about him.”

“It's not like I'm reckless anymore. And besides, I can handle him. He's a nice boy from a little town, not one of the sleaze balls that were in those other cities. Now, unless you have any objections to Tuesday at two thirty, I'm going to go back to work.” She angrily clicked her mouse to schedule the appointment before pointedly turned her chair to work on some of the ever dwindling stack of papers that she had left to file. He stayed there for several minutes, just staring at her back. She finally heard the clang of the bell to signify him leaving. She turned and stared out the window at his retreating form for a few moments. Then, shaking her head, she tried to concentrate on her work again. 

But it wasn't long before her wolf came creeping up into her thoughts. Even our mate thinks something's wrong. It paced restlessly back and forth, and she tried to shake it away. There wasn't really any way to get out of it now. She'd already agreed to go, in a way. Wes's warning settled uneasily in her stomach. She tried to rationalize it by thinking that Wes would probably say anything Besides, she really could take care of herself, with one boy. Her wolf could lend her a little of it's strength in a pinch, and it wasn't like she was exactly helpless on her own. 

“I'm closing up early.” Adam's voice startled her so much she almost jumped in her chair. “The wife has been having a rough day at work, apparently. So I'm going to make dinner so it's ready when she gets home. Plus, it beats all the paperwork waiting for me at my desk.” He smiled widely at her

She smiled back, but was still a little distracted. She finished up a bit of of the work she was doing before following him outside. She mumbled a goodbye, wishing that her mood was as good as Adam's. She was distracted in her thoughts for most of the walk home, only being forced out of them when she saw Ruthie struggling trying to carry three buckets of paint up their sidewalk. She rushed over and grabbed a couple of them herself. “What's all this?”

“Redecorating!” She chirped, smiling brightly as she led Ava through the newly opened door. Ava followed her through the house, and she looked around curiously. She hadn't ever made it over to Ruthie's side, usually more comfortable at her home. She put her cans of paint up on the counter. 

“Uh, Ruthie . . . this is white paint.” She said, peering closer at the labels.

“Yeah,” Ruthie answered offhandedly. “All my professors keep talking about the psychology behind colors and how they affect moods and stuff. Apparently it's a big thing in hospitals.” She looked over at her from surveying the house. “Painting the house white gives me a chance to really see how I want to paint things without any influence from the paint that's up.” 

“So the landlord is cool with us painting?” She hadn't gotten around to actually talking to them about repainting her side of the duplex. 

“As long as it's painted white when we move out, they said they didn't care.” She smiled and started pulling tarp out of random drawers. “Garrett's coming over to help me do the prep work.” Ava nodded absently until she really started thinking about it. It was obvious that Ruthie liked Garrett, but it wasn't like he was just any other normal human. He was a wolf, one that had recognized Ava as one the minute they had shaken hands. She couldn't help but be worried about him just trying to get close to Ruthie as a way to get close to her or to make a point about her encroaching on his or his pack's territory. 

“Great!” She thought fast, and deliberately misunderstood Ruth. “Two more hands will make this all go so much faster!” She held her hands out for one of the tarps, and watched Ruthie have a slight deliberation with herself before she handed one over to her as the anticipation of getting to paint sooner won. Ava let herself be directed to the living room, where the two girls started pushing the furniture towards the center of the room. They were staring at the larger items when the door bell rang. Ruthie bounded off to answer it and came back with Garrett in tow.

“Hello, Ava.” He greeted pleasantly as he took of his dark jacket. She murmured back a polite hello, but let him go to work moving the larger pieces. They all started laying down tarps, with some small talk and talk about what colors Ruthie was thinking about while they worked. Ava was marveling slightly at Garrett's composure, as she knew that she was putting off mildly aggressive subtones whenever she interacted with him. Not enough for Ruthie to notice, but for another wolf it would be easy to see. Ruthie kept most of the conversation going, pulling responses out of the two weres. 

It was a long time before the blonde left the room, going upstairs to hunt down the painting supplies she had stored somewhere from the last time she had painted. Ava took this opportunity to approach Garrett. “If you're getting close to Ruthie just because she's friends with me, then please don't. I didn't realize that there were already other weres here, and I don't want to start any trouble.”

Garrett nodded slowly, “No offense, but I really doubt you're one to cause trouble.” He continued on over top of Ava's gasp of protest, “But that alpha who's scent is on you, however . . .” he trailed off as they heard footsteps tromping back down the stairs. 

Ruthie was oblivious to the serious conversation that had been taking place in the living room, sorting out the painting supplies and handing them out. Ava was sulking at basically being called unthreatening, and she was putting white paint on the walls quietly. Garrett was still making light conversation with Ruthie, the two catching up on the past few years when they'd lost touch.

They worked for about another hour before they stopped for a break. Ruthie started talking about food and wandered off to the kitchen to order some. Ava was trying to clean up her brushes and paint when Garrett started talking. “There's not much to cause trouble with.” He was looking down at the floor where he was nudging a paint can with his foot. “You're the first were I've seen in years.” Giving her a small smile he followed Ruthie into the kitchen, hands full of their paint supplies.

Ava lingered in the living room, trying to figure out what Garrett was saying and what it implied. He couldn't be a lone wolf, could he? He couldn't be an alpha, not with the relaxed way he acted around her. Any alpha would have been constantly trying to either run her off his territory or trying to convince her to try and join his pack. And he wasn't a rogue either. He was obviously in control of his wolf. Sighing, she went into the kitchen, smiling a little at Ruthie when she turned to face her. “I got a jalapeno pineapple pizza. It's gonna be the greatest thing you ever eat, I promise.” Ava and Garrett just nodded, and Ruthie seemed to scramble for something else for them to talk about. “Oh! Garrett, did I tell you that Ava's going on a date with Jason this weekend?”

Garrett turned to look at Ava, an unreadable look on her face. “Oh, is she? For some reason I thought she was already in a relationship.” Ava frowned, knowing he was thinking about Wes' scent on her. Ruthie laughed a little, somehow still not noticing the tension between the two. 

“No, she's as free as a bird.” She started tapping her fingers to a beat of her own while she talked. “I can't wait to help get her ready. She won't ever let me put any make up on her. She always complains whenever I try.” She pouted over at Ava, who shook her head with a small smile.

“I'm just not into that kind of thing, Ruthie.” She shrugged, “I've never been any good with it, and it's easier at night to just be able to go to bed.” Garrett was staring out the window, obviously bored with the conversation at hand. Ava decided it was time to learn a little bit more about the other werewolf, and shifted the topic again. “So, Garrett, what do you do?” She winced when she mentally made a comparison of herself to Tara.

Garrett seemed to take it in stride, though. “I work for a local construction company.” Ava nodded, thinking about the slightly added strength from being a wolf would be beneficial to him. “We mostly build houses, but every now and again we'll get a commercial contract. Not that there's a whole lot of businesses that decided to open up here.” He shrugged, smiling a little crookedly. 

Before Ava could ask anything else, the doorbell rang, and Garrett offered to go get the pizza. Ruthie tried to protest, saying that she could pay, but she let it go when Garrett insisted. They all dug in, less concerned with conversation now that there was food in front of them. Once they had finished off the pizza, they looked back at the living room a little tiredly. “Let's at least get the first base coat,” Ruthie said, hopping out of her chair. 

They slowly returned to work, and although it took them a couple of hours longer than it should have due to all the pizza settling in their stomach. The conversation was slow as they concentrated on getting done. By the time she actually had finished, Ava plopped down onto the still covered couch, paint covering her clothes, and she was glad that she had taken the time to change out of her work clothes. She played absently with the paint brush still in her hand, running the wet bristles over her hands and arms to make abstract designs as the other two finished up their little bit of wall. 

After they were done with their parts, Garrett excused himself apologetically. Ruthie walked him to the door, and Ava took the tools and pans into the kitchen to wash them out so she wouldn't accidentally overhear anything she wasn't supposed to. She was about half way done when Ruthie came into the kitchen with her, a big grin on her face. Ava washed the rest of the painting supplies in silence, debating on whether or not to try and warn Ruthie off of Garrett. Not that he didn't seem like a gentleman to her, but she still wasn't a hundred percent sure he wasn't just trying to get closer to Ava since she was a werewolf. And there was the fact that Garrett was a were, and that Ruthie had her phobia of dogs. What if he accidentally shifted in front of her? It could create a whole slew of new problems Ava would have to deal with besides her usual drama with Wes.

She decided to speak up while they were taking the tarps off the furniture and folding them up to use the next day. “So . . . how's Garrett?” She asked cautiously, balling up the tarp in her hands to take it away from the furniture before shaking it out a little. 

Ruthie practically beamed as she answered. “He's been so great. It's been really nice to catch up. I always had the biggest crush on him when we were in high school, but he never looked anyone's way. He was kind of a loner in high school.” She explained, letting her tarp hang loosely in her hands. “Which, I mean I understood what was going on after a while, after he emancipated himself from his parents and everything. I mean, he practically had to do everything for himself anyways, they were always gone with their jobs.”

Ava nodded along with her story, still continuing on what seemed like the endless amounts of tarps that they had. “Yeah, but . . . what about recent stuff? Because, I'm not trying to say anything bad or anything but he just kind of gives me this really weird vibe.” She immediately watched Ruthie's demeanor shift, and she tried to stumble back with her words a little. “I just don't want to see him hurt you accidentally. I don't think he'd do it on purpose, but . . .”

The words seemed to appease Ruthie a little, but she was obviously still a little irritated with the line of conversation. “Honestly, I don't think that's going to happen either. From what I can tell, we're pretty much on the same track.” She started folding up the recently remembered tarp in her hands. “I mean, he did kiss me on the cheek before he left. And, what kind of friend just comes over to help someone paint?” Ruthie shook her head at Ava's raised eye brow. “I mean besides you. You don't really count, you have to cause you're my best friend.”

Now that she had said her peace about the matter, Ruthie seemed a little more calm. Ava, however, still felt a little uneasy about the situation. But she let it drop, instead finishing up the rest of the living room, and pushing most of it so it was mostly out of the way. By the time they were done, she just bid goodnight to Ruthie and went to take a warm shower. She did her best not to think about anything while she was under the heated spray, trying to relax before going to bed. She was so grateful to finally get into bed, and she practically fell asleep right away.

–

Saturday morning Ava woke with an upset stomach, but she knew it was a combination of nerves and the fact that she slept badly the night before. The sheets were a testimony of how much she had tossed and turned the night before, tangled and bunched at the end of the bed. Even the fitted sheet was starting to come off at one corner. She sighed softly, knowing that she might as well get out of bed, even though it was early in the morning. She started coffee, opting to wait downstairs until it finished brewing. She drank two cups before she even felt like moving from the chair. She got dressed and put on a little bit of make up before deciding she was finished. This was just a . . . she didn't really know what to call it. 

Ruthie had come over at some point midday, Ava couldn't be sure at what time exactly. She was trying to ignore how fast the hours seemed to be passing. Ruth had tried to tease her about being ready so early in the morning, but Ava just rolled her eyes, muttering something about not sleeping well. She knew she was acting weird, but even her wolf felt off. “Sorry,” she said, in the middle of one of Ruth's sentences about . . . something. The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, and Ava elaborated. “For my mood today. I really didn't sleep well, and it's kind of messing up my whole day. I tried to drink coffee but it didn't really seem to help.”

“Maybe you should call and reschedule?” Ruthie asked, obviously concerned. “You don't really look like you're feeling to well, either.” 

Ava shook her head, not wanting to have to go through all of this anticipation again. “No, I'll be fine by tonight, I just need to get my head on straight.” She smiled and coaxed her friend into watching some crappy B movies. They seemed to be just the thing to get her out of her head for a while. After they finished the third one, it was beginning to be dark, and Ava felt a little more like herself. 

Ruthie helped her touch up her make up a little and then both girls sat in the kitchen, Ava with a cup of tea, this time, and waited for Jason to get there. At seven exactly, she heard a knock on the front door. Ruthie grabbed her hands, not letting her get up right away. “Hey, seriously, though. If you need an out call me, okay? Don't stay just because you feel like you have to.” 

Ava tilted her head, “I know I don't have to do anything I don't want to, Ruthie.”

Ruth shrugged, “Sometimes I wonder if you really want to go on this date. You could have cancelled, I'm sure he would have understood.” But she let go of Ava's hands. “Anyways, I was just reminding you. Go get him, tiger.” She seemed to shed her seriousness like a cloak, settling back into her playful self and shooting Ava a wink.

Ava sent her an unsure smile back but went to open the door. She tried to make her smile look a little more genuine and she tilted her head in the way Wes had always told her was cute. Jason produced a stem with purple bell shaped leaves. She accepted it gratefully. “They're foxglove, I think. Honestly, I just picked them out of my backyard. My little sister planted them last year, she has a thing with growing flowers.” She set them on the table by the door, mentally reminding herself to put them in water later. “We should go, I made reservations at that Italian place downtown.” 

She fell into step with him, listening quietly to the stories he spun about high school. She tried to give him her full attention, but for some reason all she kept thinking about was Wes when he was in high school. She focused a little better when they were sitting at the table. Jason had waved away the wine the server had presented, and they were glancing through the menu. She barely heard Jason when he asked her what she was thinking about getting. She took a long moment to decipher the words in her head before answering. “I was thinking about getting the ravioli or the fettuccine,” she replied softly. 

They made a little more small talk before dinner arrived, and they started eating. It was mostly easy to skate by without a lot of involvement because Jason was happily filling the silence by himself. He seemed to be happy to have an audience that hadn't gone to high school with him, and was a fresh set of ears to hear his stories. Ava made all the appropriate encouraging noises in all the right places, and he seemed none the wiser. About halfway through her plate she felt his foot slide up her leg, and she excused herself to the bathroom.

She was barely in a stall before her phone was in her hand. She didn't think she could stand another hour of listening to dumb high school stories, and she definitely wasn't about to play footsie with him. She stayed in the bathroom until she got Ruth's reply back. She went back to the table, apologizing and asking where they had left off in the conversation. Her phone going off still surprised her, and she sheepishly apologized again before answering it. Ruthie was on the other end speaking in a high pitched voice and it sounded like she was crying. “Ruthie really needs me right now, I have to go, I'm sorry.” 

She hurriedly put on her coat, purposely not looking at Jason, but in doing so she missed the aggrivated look he gave her, and that he had followed her outside. She was a few buildings down by the time Jason caught up with her, grabbing her arm and stopping her. “Hey, you can't just leave in the middle of a date. That's not how this works.” Ava frowned, jerking her arm away from him and stumbling a few steps back. She was still too surprised to really react when he grabbed her again and pushed her up against the brick, causing her to make a soft sound of pain. “This isn't how it works.” 

She narrowed her eyes and stomped as hard as she could on his inseam. He let out a low curse and loosened his grip on her arms, enough that she could tear herself out of his grip and take off running down the street. She stopped running once she was closer to her house, and she tried to catch her breath. She rotated her shoulder softly, and gasped aloud at the pain it caused. She must have pulled a muscle when she had torn away from him. 

She went straight over to Ruthie's side of the duplex when she got home, since she saw the other girl's living room light on. She knocked on the door awkwardly, holding her middle. Ruthie opened the door and ushered her inside. “I've already started tea, I figured you could use something warm that wasn't soaked in caffeine.” Ava followed her into the kitchen, settling into a stool at the counter top. Ruthie moved about the kitchen, getting the tea ready. “So . . . what happened?”

“It's not that the date was bad.” She started, trying figure out how much she should tell of the story. She was still trying to make sense of the whole mess that had happened at the end. Besides, Jason was the golden boy of town, would Ruthie even believe her that he'd practically had a personality change? She smiled weakly at her when she set down a steaming mug in front of her before continuing. “I just . . . I could tell it wouldn't work out. I was distracted the whole night.” Half truths were the best, she decided. Better just to leave out the end of the night altogether and stick to the rest of the story. “Truth be told, I was thinking about Wes the whole date. “ She confessed, knowing that Ruthie would latch onto the thought and likely forget to ask about the rest of the night.

As she had predicted, Ruthie perked up at the mention of the were, and sat forward excitedly. “Really? That's great!” She cleared her throat, shrugging a little. “I mean, I feel totally bad for Jason but I'm sure he'll find someone that will work out for him.” She sighed a little, staring at Ava dreamily. “So, you have to start talking to Wes again. Like, talking talking.” 

Ava shook her head. “Just because I was thinking about him doesn't mean that I should jump at getting back together. Besides, I don't even know if he wants to get back together,” she lied. She knew full well that Wes would do practically anything to get Ava back. 

Ruthie rolled her eyes. “Come on, from the sounds of it, I'm surprised you two broke up at all. At this point I feel like you're just delaying the inevitable.” Ava just shrugged, taking a sip of her scalding tea. “Anyways, why don't we just veg out and eat a bunch of junk?” Ava nodded gratefully as Ruthie got up, mumbling to herself. “I think I have some pj’s that would fit you.” Ava pulled Ruthie into a hug as she passed by, and let herself get distracted by the terrible rom coms Ruthie was putting on the tv.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day she got a text from Tara, and how the girl got her number, she'd love to know. In it she rambled about how Ava had lied to her and how it was messed up for her to play Jason like that. That it was a low move to convince him to sleep with her just to run off before morning. She felt the anger growing in her chest, felt her wolf pacing back and forth like a caged animal. She buried her face into her pillow and took a few deep breaths to settle herself so she didn't shift right there. Ruthie stirred a little beside her, and Ava looked up to see her rubbing her eyes tiredly, still laying down. “Ava? You okay?”

“Jason's been spreading rumors about me.” She stated flatly, handing her friend her phone. She watched her read through the text, her face growing redder and redder as the moments passed.

“I can't believe him!” She said, slamming her curled up fists against the mattress. “I just . . . god, I never thought he'd do something like this.” She was running her hand through her tangled bed head, and she kept ranting. “And over something as stupid as you leaving the date early! Especially when I needed you. It wasn't true, but he didn't know that!” She turned to look at Ava again, frowning. “God, was he this petty last night?”

“He, uh, actually he followed me outside and pushed me up against a wall.” She mumbled, the truth slipping out of her still waking up brain. She immediately bit her tongue, regretting the slip. 

“He did what?” Ruthie asked, dangerously slow. There was a glint in the blonde's eyes that Ava hadn't seen before, and it made her stomach uneasy. She debated for a moment before pulling down the collar of her shirt to show Ruthie the bruise on her shoulder. She'd discovered it last night, one of the times she'd slipped into the bathroom. It had already turned black and purple and blue, and spanned most of her shoulder blade. Ruthie gasped softly, and she hesitantly reached out to touch it. “Why didn't you tell me last night?” 

“I didn't think you'd believe me.” She mumbled guiltily, looking down. She had her jaw clenched tightly, and she was deliberately not making eye contact. She knew it was wrong of her to just assume that Ruth would side with Jason, especially since she had given her the title of best friend. And when she glanced up at the other girl, she knew even more that she was in the wrong for not telling her. Ruth had a devastated look on her face, her shoulders slumped now. “I didn't know how to tell you.”

“Even with a giant bruise on your shoulder, you didn't think I'd believe you?” Her voice was practically dripping with hurt, and Ava shook her head softly. “You didn't know how to say, 'Hey, while I was on my way home, Jason practically assaulted me and threw me against a wall.'”

“I'm sorry. Ruthie, I really am.” Ava started, reaching for her friend, but she didn't really know what to do after she'd touched her, so she just dropped her hand back to the bed.

Ruthie sighed, “It doesn't matter. Let's just . . . get some coffee and figure out what to do about the rest of this.” Ava nodded, and followed her down to the kitchen, where she started some coffee. Both girls sat in silence, neither one wanting to speak first. After they both had a cup in front of them, Ruthie finally spoke up. “I can always vouch for you. You came home around eight and we were up all night watching movies. It's the truth.” 

“I feel like no one's going to believe the truth.” Ava replied, stirring her coffee absently. “It's so much more interesting if I actually did what he accused. And it's not like anyone knows me here. Not like they know him.” She shook her head, “And, you know what, I don't care. So what if he spreads a stupid rumor about me? It doesn't really matter. We're not in high school, I'm not trying to win a popularity contest.”

“Yeah,” Ruthie replied, a small smile on her face. “He's just some dumb boy. And I doubt anyone will believe Tara.” 

Ava tried to believe the girl, but she the sick feeling in her stomach stayed the same. She tried to put the whole thing in the back of her mind as she got ready for work. She made a quick breakfast for them before regretfully telling Ruthie goodbye. She kept her head down on her walk to work, carefully avoiding the higher traffic areas by going the long way around. Instead of arriving a couple of minutes early like she usually did, she ended up right on time. Adam was just opening up the front door as she walked up. “Feeling a little under the weather?” He asked softly, giving her a concerned frown.

She smiled a little, forcing out a laugh. “Do I look that bad?” She asked, automatically reaching down to smooth out the small wrinkles in her skirt. She followed him inside, heading for the coffee pot first thing. She had a feeling she would need caffeine to function throughout the day. 

Adam shook his head, “I would never presume to tell a lady that she looked bad. Simply . . . under the weather, perhaps.” 

Unable to help the genuine smile that graced her face, she shook her head. “I'm not getting sick, I don't think. I just didn't sleep very well. I've never slept under a full moon very well,” she confessed, knowing that she shouldn't. While full moons didn't cause the shift like new moons did, it certainly didn't lessen the want to shift. Most weres ended up shifting anyways, and Ava distinctly remembered that being the very reason that she became so interested with Wes back in high school. 

Her boss nodded, taking a cup of steaming coffee back into his office. She settled in at her desk, a little upset to see that there were quite a few appointments that morning. She just hoped that word hadn't spread very quickly yet, and that Tara was the only one who Jason had complained to. 

The very first appointment dashed those dreams quickly. It was one of Adam's regular clients, an older lady who was, from what Ava could figure, trying to get her will in order. She came in at least once a week to change who got what depending on who she was favoring that week. When she came up to the front desk to check in for her appointment, she gave Ava a disdainful look, turning up her nose and barely saying two words to her, when they usually had a polite conversation usually consisting of small talk. 

The rest of the morning only seemed to go downhill form there. Ever client that walked in the door treated her differently than they had the day before. She managed to keep her professional conduct, but the day was wearing on her. She probably drank half the pot of coffee before the morning was even half over. 

When she went to get lunch she felt like everyone's eyes were on her. “Jeez,” she muttered to herself, “I knew word always spread fast in small towns but this is just ridiculous.” She waited in slight line to order her take out, but what was only about ten minutes felt like an hour with everyone staring at her. She got her food as quickly as she could, and left the building. She searched for a reasonably dry space, thankful that it had stopped raining for the moment. She found a little picnic table underneath some tree cover that was mostly dry. 

She set up her food and started eating. The tree also provided good cover from the main sidewalk, the trunk shielding her from inquisitive eyes. She tensed when she heard footsteps coming up from behind her, their shoes crunching the fallen leaves on the ground. She almost sighed in relief when Garrett walked into her line of view. “Hey,” he greeted as he sat down across from her, taking the offered fry when she scooted the box towards him. “For the record, I don't believe what they're saying.” Ava shrugged, not really up for talking about the whole situation. “Honestly, I'm surprised you even said yes to that date. Whether you're actively with that alpha right now or not, you're still mated. Dating other people isn't usually taken so lightly.”

Ava bristled a little at that, her wolf snarling. We haven't taken anything lightly. “It wasn't exactly my idea. And I couldn't think of a way to get out of it without sounding like a bitch.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Although, now that I think about it, maybe it would have been better if I had just come off like that.” Garrett just stared at her, but it wasn't like the other townsfolk. He seemed more curious than anything else.

“I got bitten by a rogue wolf. He wasn't quite to the point of insanity yet, so he stuck around and taught me the basics. After about a month, though, he took off without a word.” A leaf drifted down between them and caught Garrett's gaze. He caught it with ease, and began twirling it between his fingertips. “I always figured he'd gone to go insane by himself.” Ava just stared at him, her food in front of her half forgotten. “That was the last time I saw another one of us.” 

“How long ago was this?” She asked. It couldn't have been recently, as he had too much control to be newly changed. 

“I was a sophomore in high school.” He was matter of fact about it, not seeming bothered by it at all. Ava didn't know if she'd have adjusted as well if that's what had happened to her. If she hadn't had a choice. At least he stuck around to teach him something. Ava's wolf whispered to her. At least he hadn't left him to figure out everything on his own. 

Ava felt like she should share something else with him, something that was important in her past. But she couldn't get the words out. Couldn't even begin to describe the relationship of her and Wes. She'd never been able to tell anyone before and now that she had the chance, her tongue was tied. “Ruthie has a phobia of dogs.” She found herself blurting out instead. She winced immediately after, knowing that it wasn't really her story to tell. But Ruthie didn't know what Garrett was to warn him. 

Garrett had grown still, the leaf he had still been twirling now crushed in his clenched fist. “Oh,” he murmured softly, looking down at it like he hadn't meant to do it. He gave her a rueful smile, “Guess that explains why you're always so protective when I'm around her, huh?” He cleared his throat, and stood up. “I'll see you around,” He said before walking away, leaf still in his clenched hand.

As soon as he left, she rested her head in her hands. That wasn't what she meant to say, and now she was afraid that she'd messed everything up for her best friend. She hoped he didn't just stop talking to Ruthie altogether. They both seemed to really like each other, but . . . With Garrett being what he was, he might think that it would be best to just stay away. But if that was the case, shouldn't she be staying away, too?

Shaking her head, she threw away her lunch, not feeling very hungry anymore. She headed back to work, taking her time since she still had a few minutes before she had to actually be there. Adam was in the front office when she came back, getting a cup of coffee for himself. “Welcome back!” He greeted cheerfully. “How was lunch?” 

“Good,” she lied, giving him a cheerful smile. Aside from Garrett, Adam was the only one in town that hadn't given her a different attitude and she didn't know if he just hadn't heard the rumors or just didn't care. She settled back into her chair to continue working, her ever dwindling pile of paperwork actually seemed to have an end today. She was thankful there weren't many appointments, so she wouldn't have to ignore the stares of the clients that came in. She could just file paperwork and pretend that nothing was different. That she was just an unfamiliar face in a little town. The door opened, and she automatically glanced at her appointment schedule, but saw that there wasn't anyone that had an appointment. She looked up with a smile, and it almost immediately dropped when she saw who it was. “Wes,” she greeted softly.

She was half afraid that he was going to reprimand her for going on the date, so she steeled her shoulders. “I just wanted to check my appointment time.” He shrugged a little, “I was walking by on my way to lunch and couldn't remember when I next came in.”

Ava knew he was more than likely lying, but she was grateful for him not bringing everything up that she didn't even mind. He was more than likely just checking up on her, probably having heard the rumors, too. She found his appointment and gave him the time and date on another card. “Do you ever hate living in small towns?” She asked, a bare smile on her face. 

He shrugged slowly, looking as if he couldn't quite understand her. “Usually not. Every now and again, I guess it can be a hassle.” He wrinkled his nose, and she couldn't help but think back of when they had lived in their hometown, and how Wes' pack had known that they were together the same day it had happened. “If you ever need anything, Ava. You know I'm always right here.”

Before she had a chance to respond, Adam came venturing out of his office. “I thought I heard that front door open!” He clapped Wes on the back. “What brings you in today, my friend? I didn't think we had an appointment today. I have been wrong before, though.” 

Wes shook his head, “Not today. I couldn't remember when, so I came in to get another card.” He lifted up his card as proof. Adam gave him a wink and slid a glance over to Ava. She flushed a little at the implication, and ducked her head back to her computer. Why Adam thought Wes was trying to flirt with her, she'd probably never know. But it was probably for the best, since flirting was a lot more harmless than what was actually happening. Adam led him back into the office anyways, talking about how he had time for him anyways. 

Ava just sat for a moment after they'd gone, not really sure what to do. This whole day was a mess and she just couldn't seem to salvage it. Sighing, she got up to pour herself a cup of coffee, giving into the caffeine urge. She drank about half of it before she felt settled enough to do her job. She carefully kept her back towards her desk, but it would be hard not to hear the boys coming back up the hallway. Adam sent Wes out the front door, and she felt torn about how she felt about not getting to talk to him again before he went. After he was gone, Adam came up to the desk. “Wes is a good kid.” He said, meaningfully. She just nodded, purposefully misunderstanding the hint. He stood there for a couple minutes more before going back to his office, cheerful and humming a tune to himself. 

The rest of the day passed quickly, and she soon found herself on her walk home. She kept her head low, watching her feet trampling the leaves. Nobody tried to talk to her, and she didn't try to start conversation with anyone else, either. When she got home, Ruthie was sitting on her front porch, phone in hand and it looked like she'd been crying. She went up to her cautiously, sitting down beside her. “Ruthie?” She asked quietly.

“Garrett texted me and said that we probably wouldn't hang out as much anymore. That he's going to be extra busy with work and that he wouldn't have a whole lot of free time.” The blonde's voice was flat, and she was still just staring down at the blank screen. “He didn't even call me or anything. He just sent it all over text.” Ava's stomach sank, knowing it was all her fault. 

“Oh, Ruthie.” She said, pulling the girl into her arms for a hug. “I'm so sorry.” 

“If he didn't like me, he should have just said so, not made up some stupid excuse about work.” She complained. 

“Hey,” Ava said, pulling away far enough to look at her face. “I'm sure whatever this is doesn't have anything to do with you. You told me the other day he hasn't dated anyone in years, right?” She waited for Ruthie's confirmation before continuing. “So maybe he's just freaking out about it. Maybe he just needs some time to adjust before he starts coming around again.” 

Ruthie just shrugged, obviously not quite believing her. Ava sighed softly, before standing up and offering a hand to her friend. “Come on, I think today warrants a big tub of ice cream and lots and lots of chinese food.” Ruthie smiled up at her and took the offered hand, standing up beside her. Both girls went into the house and began the preparations for food. Ava left Ruthie downstairs for a moment, just to change her clothes, but when she returned to the living room, Ruthie was sitting at the couch staring down at her phone morosely. 

After pausing a moment in the doorway, she came to sit beside her like she hadn't seen what she was doing. “So, the food is ordered, there's plenty of ice cream, and there's my . . . very limited collection of dvds. What do you want to watch?” 

Ruthie twisted her mouth, obviously debating whether whatever was running through her mind was worth mentioning. “Can we be those teenage girls we always make fun of and watch romance movies and cry while stuffing our faces full of food?” She asked, her words running together almost incoherently.

Ava smiled sadly, nodding her head.“Yeah, I think we've earned our time to be teenage girls.”Ruthie smiled back, and they stocked up on tissues and started the first movie while they waited for the food to get there.


	7. Chapter 7

Ava was honestly getting tired of having to walk through town, and she hadn't left the house for much more than getting food in the house and going to work. Today was one of her grocery days because she was tired of getting take out, and there wasn't anything in her house that was actually edible. She kept her head low as she shopped, and spoke only a few brief words to the cashier, who was thankfully not Jason.

When she came home that day, Ruthie practically shoved her into the shower and threatened to come in after her if she didn't hear the shower running in a few minutes. Ava rolled her eyes, but complied, letting the hot water run down her back. She couldn't stand the looks she kept getting when she was in town, so she'd been keeping herself cooped up in her house and she knew it. The only places she went was Ruthie's, work, and to get food. 

When she was done in the shower, Ruthie stuck her on the bed and started doing her make up. “We're going to a party. It would do us both good to get out of the house to forget about all the stupid stuff right now.” She explained as she made Ava close her eyes to keep applying make up. Ava sighed quietly, waiting for her best friend to decide she was finished. By the time she was finally done, it was dark outside, and she wondered if Wes was outside watching the house. There had been a few different towns that she had found him laying outside as a kind of pseudo protector.

Ruthie huffed impatiently as Ava rummaged through her purse to make sure everything was there. She rolled her eyes when she saw Ava reach for the pepper spray on her desk. “These are nice kids, sweetie. I'm not taking you to the slums or anything.” Ava ignored her, knowing exactly what some of those 'nice kids' were like. She was finally ready, and she turned to the blonde, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, fine. Let's go, then.” She all but dragged her outside. There was a distinct lack of chatter, and it didn't help the knots that were already in Ava's stomach. She knew it was her fault that Ruth was upset, that she wanted to go to this party with a goal of getting as drunk as possible. She almost felt bad, but she couldn't not tell Garrett about Ruth's phobia of dogs. She hadn't realized that he'd just blow her off and stop speaking to her. She hadn't really thought about what he'd do at all, really. 

Both girls barely said a word on the walk there, both too engrossed in their own thoughts. They had, however, managed a smile by the time they'd reached the party. There were already a dozen or so people outside, red solo cups dangling from loose fingertips and sitting on porch ledges. Ruth led the way inside, not bothering to knock at the front door. She made a beeline for the kitchen and immediately grabbed the bottle of tequila to make herself a drink. Ava poured a heavy dose of vodka in a cup before searching through the fridge for a decent mixer. Once she took a drink, she made a face. A strong drink had sounded good in theory, but now that she was drinking it she realized how bad of an idea it was. She didn't exactly feel comfortable here, and she didn't think she could afford to let herself lose control to alcohol. Still, she took another sip, feeling the familiar heat in her stomach. 

Her stomach dropped when she felt eyes on the back of her neck, and she turned to see Jason staring at her intently. She turned back to Ruthie with her mouth open to say something, but the blonde already had a determined look on her face, taking Ava by the arm and leading her into the living room with a loud, “Let's see who's in the living room.” They stood by the sofa, and Ruthie was taking long drags from her cup. Ava had only taken a couple more sips, her stomach too upset to really drink too much more. 

The more Ruthie drank, the more she started flirting with the guys around them. She didn't leave Ava's side, but she was sending flirty glances and bedroom eyes all over the room. Most of the guys seemed to take it in stride, knowing Ruthie and probably figuring she wouldn't actually follow through with what she was implying. One of the unfamiliar faces approached her, though, and started chatting with her. Ava muttered something about using the bathroom, and left the two alone. She wandered around the room for a little bit before finding what she thought was the correct hallway. She tensed when she heard someone yell 'Jason' from a little too close behind her. She turned to see him practically right behind her, a drunk grin on his face. “Hey, baby.” He slurred, reaching up to push the hair out of her face, but she slapped his hand away. “Don't be like that. I'm just trying to get you to loosen up.”

She took a step back. “Just leave me alone and go get drunk somewhere away from me.” She spat out, turning to walk away from him. He caught her arm before she could make it too far, spinning her around and pushing her down the dim lit hallway. She could feel her fingers brushing against picture frames and she tried to back away from him, her entire body screaming out to not turn her back towards the predator. He followed her almost nonchalantly, that drunken grin still in place. 

“Come on, let's have some fun. We can always go upstairs.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Ava's heart sank when she felt a doorknob behind her fingers. Her fingers had turned clumsy, and she couldn't get the door open before he had pressed up against her, leaving wet kisses on her neck. She pushed at him enough to give her enough room to shove into her purse to pull out the pepper spray. But before she could spray him with it, someone had spun him around and shoved him towards the rest of the party. Her breath caught when she saw it was Wes. She would have swore her heart stopped when Jason snarled at him, “Fine, you have fun with the bitch.” She waited for the flash of nails that were just a little too sharp, or teeth that were just a little too long, but it never came. Wes let him stumble back to the party, glaring daggers at his back. And then he walked away in the opposite direction without so much as a word to her. 

She stumbled after him, tripping over the cup she had apparently dropped in the mouth of the hallway. She looked up to see Wes slipping out the back door and hurried to follow. She found him sitting in the yard, facing the trees. She steadied her steps as she came closer, standing a few feet away from him unsure of what to say. “I really like the town you picked.” He didn't bother looking at her, still just staring at the tree line. “There's so much space to roam.” 

She could list all of the reasons she should just turn around and go back into the party, find Ruthie, and go home. Instead, she settled on the damp grass beside him. “It's not like I get to debate about where to go. They're usually split second decisions. I hate it when we end up in cities.” She decided that she didn't have to look at him either, instead opting to stare at the light-less spots between the trees.

She saw him look down at his feet out of the corner of her eye. “Sometimes I think you want me to catch up to you in cities. You always seem a little less on guard.” He looked up at the sky, leaning back on one arm. “What about here? Could you live here for the rest of your life?” She heard the unspoken question, though. How he was asking if she could start a life with him here. Her wolf whined at the idea, sounding pained because she knew her human counterpart would fight tooth and nail before letting that happen. 

“Wes . . .” She sighed, unable to stop it from coming out. She didn't have an answer for him, though, so she changed the subject. “What was that inside? I don't think I've ever seen you act so calm about someone threatening me bodily harm before.” 

“I'm not the same teenage boy with anger management problems,” He snapped out. She snapped her head to look at him, stunned into silence. She was unable to tell him that she knew that, of course she knew that. But he continued before she could get the words out. “People change. I've changed. I'm not controlled by the moon anymore.” He still wasn't looking at her and it was driving her crazy. Most of the time he wouldn't stop staring at her and now he wouldn't even glance at her. 

“You're not a teenager anymore, no, but you're still chasing me from town to town.” She bit out, lashing out from the hurt she was feeling. She pulled her knees in closer as if it would keep her safe from the words that Wes seemed to have no trouble spitting out. 

“I'm doing it to protect you!” He snarled out, finally, finally looking at her. But now that he had, his expression made her feel a little sick. He looked so angry. Angrier than she'd seen him in a long time, and that anger had never been directed at her. Her wolf shrank down, hunching it's shoulders and baring it's teeth. “When was the last time I was out of control, chasing you through the woods and nipping at your heels? You're telling me that you can't tell the difference when I'm rational?” He shook his head and laughed mirthlessly. “And besides, if I didn't follow you who would protect you then? No one else would have given a shit if that boy had taken you upstairs, or in a dark corner.” He closed his eyes suddenly, turning his face away from her and wiping a weary hand over it. She watched the fight leave his shoulders, and marveled at how much he had changed. 

She hesitantly reached out to touch his arm, unsure of what else to do, but he flinched away before she could actually touch him. Her heart felt like it shattered, and she pulled her arm back in, steel in her spine as she started talking again. “Well I wouldn't need to be protected and wouldn't have to move like this if you just hadn't lost your mind and killed Phillip!” She bit her tongue, knowing as soon as the words had left her lips that it was a mistake. She watched him grow utterly still, but refused to say anything else, refused to take it back. 

“You know why I did what I did. You know that I was barely hanging on to my control as it was, as newly bonded as we were and in that stupid fight anyways.” He barked out another laugh, though this one sounded more hurt than anything else. He looked back at her, all the emotions in his eyes overwhelming her. “God, spatzi. All I want is to run in the forest with you. To get to know you in both your skins, hunt with you. We've been running since we were teenagers. Gods above, why are you still running from me?” His desperation tugged at the wolf, who was howling mournfully. 

Ava knew she was trembling. Knew that she was so close to bursting into tears and she couldn't even tell who was in the wrong right now. “I have to,” she managed out. “I can't just- how am I supposed to just forget what happened? You killed someone over me, practically for me. That's not normal. That shouldn't be okay.” She felt the tears begin to run down her face. “I don't even want to think about what would happen if I stopped running from you, who else might die.”

“What part of 'I've changed' don't you understand?” He growled, standing up and towering over her. “I thought you might have gotten a clue when I didn't rip that piece of shit's head off when he touched you.” Shaking his head, he looked up to the sky as if for help. “Maybe everyone back home is right. Maybe we did all this too young, and maybe I am wasting my time trying to make you see that I'm not what I was. Wasting my time chasing after you.” Throwing her one last undecipherable look, he turned towards the trees, shifting and bounding away, leaving his tattered pieces of clothes on the ground.

Ava just sat and watched him disappear into the inky blackness, tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn't move for what felt like forever, felt like only a minute. Until Ruth came outside, chastising her about how she was worried sick because she couldn't find her inside. But the words died on her tongue when she saw the look on Ava's face, the tear trails running down her cheeks. The blonde gathered her up into a huge hug before helping her to her feet. She managed to get them around the house without anyone seeing and led her home. 

Ava's mind was blank the whole walk, all the way up until Ruth made her sit down in her bathroom, starting a shower and ordering her to get in. Once the too hot water touched her skin, though, she couldn't stop the thoughts from surfacing. Was she running from nothing? Maybe she was just scared of what they could be, of what might happen and was too stubborn to face it. 

She got out of the shower feeling numb, as if her body had just shut down to save her the feeling. Ruth watched her get into bed before hesitantly leaving to go home. She reminded Ava about ten times that she could call her if she needed her before finally leaving. After the girl had left, she'd stared at the ceiling. She had really loved Wes in high school, and if she was being honest with herself, she knew that same love still resided in her chest. She couldn't count how many times she'd thought about living the rest of her life with Wes when they were younger. How many times that theme had been in her dreams, sleeping in so many different towns, so many different beds. Sighing softly to herself, she pulled the covers up to her chin, curling into a ball. She stared out the patio doors at the moon, a crescent that was growing fatter by the day. Eventually the soft sounds of the wind running through the trees lulled her to sleep, and she dreamed of days long ago.


	8. Chapter 8

Wes was starting to come into the office more often, but he hardly said two words to her other than scheduling another appointment with Adam. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed by this change. Her wolf wasn't happy, had taken to hunching it's shoulders when she saw Wes. Every time he came in, though, it made her more and more curious as to what he was doing. Adam was a lawyer of many talents, so it wasn't exactly easy to pinpoint the reason for their meetings.

It was the end of a slow day when Adam approached her desk with a nervous smile. She looked up, apprehension creeping up her spine. “I've finished all of my appointments for the day, right?” She shook her head yes, the contents of her stomach souring. “I've been hearing some . . . things around town lately.” Adam wouldn't look her in the eye, which couldn't be a good sign. “About you, that is.” She just stared blankly at him, pretty sure where this was going and was just waiting for him to say it. “I'm going to have to let you go. There are a lot of consequences that go along with the accusations that you decided to make, and I'm not sure you thought all of that through.” Her expression grew hard as he handed her a check. “Here's your last paycheck. You can go ahead, I'm going to go ahead and lock up.”

She nodded, getting up from her chair and gathering her things. She stopped at the doorway with a halfhearted smile. “Thank you for the opportunity here.” With that said, she walked outside, managing to make it at least a couple of blocks before she stopped, took a deep breath, and holding it for a few seconds. She just got fired. Over Jason. Now the anger was starting to build inside of her, and she started walking towards home. She would have to go for a run, let the wolf take over for a while. And if Wes happened to butt in today, she'd give him an earful. 

She kept her head down to ignore Ruthie, who was on the porch. She didn't even bother going inside, just skirted around the house to find her way into the trees. She waited until she couldn't be seen before stripping her clothes and hiding them in a bush. The change was almost immediate, and she didn't hesitate to take off. She tore past frightened bunnies and squirrels, rustling up the leaves that had fallen. She let her wolf take control, who didn't understand why she was upset. We're in a forest full of things to hunt. And even if we run into something unsafe, one howl will bring our mate running towards us. She slowed down, scenting the air to find something to hunt. 

She leapt in happiness when she caught the scent of a deer. There wouldn't be any way for her to actually catch it, not alone, but it would make for a fun chase. She crept up behind it as quietly as she could, surprised to find that it was a buck, with an impressive rack of antlers. She tensed when she felt the wind shift, and the buck's head turned to her. She scrambled to get away as he charged towards her, revealing a doe and fawn behind him. She bared her teeth and snarled in an attempt to get him to veer off course but he slammed into her anyways. His antlers caught her back, and he caught her with his hooves before she could get away from him. 

Her wolf made a pained howl before Ava could stop it. She started to limp back towards home. She was beginning to regret running so far away, now that she had to make the trip back. She crouched in the bushes when she heard something coming towards her. She peered around the leaves to see a rust colored wolf standing a few feet away. Garrett, her wolf supplied. She let him come closer, but yelped when he stuck her nose against her side as he tried to sniff out where the pain was coming from. She heard a startled yip before Garrett was pushed away from her and she turned to see a large grey and black wolf standing over her, growling. Our mate is the strongest. Her wolf preened, rolling on their back for Wes. He looked down nosing gently over her side before licking at her muzzle. 

Garrett, whom she had quickly forgotten, started growling and advancing towards them. Wes responded immediately, his hackles raising and snarling. She managed to wiggle out from underneath Wes, limping in between the two and making a sharp bark to force their attention on her instead of each other. Wes huffed, but left well enough alone. He came over to her and started to guide her away from where her house would be, making sure to throw one last look over his shoulder. He bore most of her weight, making sure to go a slower pace for her. When they finally came to the edge of the trees, he quickly shifted, pulling on his p ants. “Ava, you've got to change.” She bared her teeth, but did as he said. The pain hit her anew as she shed her pelt, but she accepted Wes' shirt and his offer to help pull it on.

He led her up the stairs, still bearing the brunt of her weight. Once they were inside what she assumed was his apartment, he carefully scooped her up into his arms. He laid her on his bed, frowning as he sat beside her. “What were you trying to do?” he scolded, without much bite. “Were you trying to get yourself seriously injured? And don't think we won't be talking about that other wolf.”

“I just needed something to chase.” She murmured, letting herself take comfort in the hands of her mate. “It was a bad day and I just needed to . . . I don't know, forget. She didn't think it was a bad idea. It wasn't like we knew they were behind him.” Wes sighed, rubbing a weary hand over his face. “And the other wolf was Garrett. I met him the other day. He's kind've dating my roommate. He was only trying to help.”

“You can't trust wolves you've just met.” he said, chiding her like she was a child. “I'm not always going to be around to save you, especially since you're so keen on running every time I turn my back.” Shaking his head, his face softened apologetically. “What happened today?” He stood to find her some loose clothing to slip into, which she managed with only a couple of winces. 

“I got fired.” She admitted flatly, doing her best to curl into herself without pulling any of her strained muscles. She attempted a weak smile when he turned away from his dresser drawers to look at her. She was always so careful about performing well at her jobs, because it wasn't like she had a support base in case she got fired or let go. “It was because of Jason. I guess he's been spreading rumors about me falsely accusing him about . . . all of that stuff.” She almost wished she hadn't said anything when she saw a familiar angry gleam in Wes' eyes. She grabbed his hand when he came close enough to her. He took a long look towards the door before taking a deep breath and sitting down. He kept surprising her. There was a time where nothing she could have said would have calmed his ire or stopped him from going and doing something out of stupid anger. 

He brushed some hair out of her face. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry?” He asked, smoothing the covers down. She shook her head, burrowing into the covers. He hesitated for a moment before laying down beside her. She snuggled into his chest, sighing softly. He started running his hands through her hair softly.

“Quit fussing over me,” she mumbled, closing her eyes. “I'm just a little bruised, that's all. It's not like I'm gravely injured or anything.” 

He sighed heavily, but continued playing with her hair. “I'm taking full advantage of this while you'll let me.” He frowned a little when he heard her sigh, but didn't move away. “Get some sleep. It'll feel better in the morning.” She snorted loudly, and he smiled. “Okay, so it won't. Sleep, Spatzi. I'll wake you in the morning.” He pulled the covers over them and Ava let herself drift into sleep.

–

True to his word, she was woken up in the morning. Blinking blearily, she found Wes standing beside her with pain medicine and a glass of water. She laid as still as possible for a moment before her still sleep clouded brain registered the pain and she reached for them greedily. She tried not to chug the water, knowing it would make something else hurt. He came closer, hovering over the bottom of the shirt covering her ribs. She nodded, and he pulled it up, prodding the bruised skin softly. “It could have been a lot worse. They're just bruised, I think. I'll be able to tell a little better once they're not swollen.” He pulled the shirt back down, looking at her thoughtfully. “I'm surprised you're letting me do all of this for you.”

“It's lonely, sometimes. Not being able to tell anyone who I am. The wolf hates running alone. Hates that it's just us.” She confessed, letting him brush his fingers over her cheek. “Maybe . . . maybe we can try again. Not anything serious,” she added quickly. “Just . . . maybe start to be friends again.”

Wes nodded quickly. “I would love that.” He let the silence settle for a moment before speaking up again. “You're more than welcome to take a shower.” He said, extending a hand to help her up. He found some clothes that were more appropriate for wearing outside. Then he helped her into the bathroom with a sly, “Need help showering?” Rolling her eyes, she threw a half hearted elbow at him. He started to leave the room, but paused in the doorway. “Seriously, though. Don't push yourself too hard.”

She nodded, closing the door behind him. Even though he had joked about it, she knew that he'd keep his composure if she needed help. Mates make sure that your well being is taken care of before everything else. Her wolf reminded her, as if she needed it. And if taking care of her well being meant helping her shower without wandering hands and lewd jokes, he'd do it without batting an eye. She sighed softly, letting the almost too warm water wash over her battered body. She might have overdone it a little by the time she got out of the shower, but she still felt better than she had. She carefully pulled on the borrowed clothes, leaning on the counter to roll up the ends of the pants so she didn't trip over them. 

She found Wes in the living room, a piece of wood and a small knife in his hands. “What are you working on?” She asked as she settled beside him on the couch. He was trying to act like he wasn't paying attention to her in case she needed help, but it wasn't working too well. 

He shrugged to answer her question, though, “Haven't decided yet.” He smiled, turning the piece slowly so she could see what he had done so far. “Sometimes my hands know better than I do.” She nodded, trying to see what it might become. None of the marks were definite enough to tell, so she let the ideas slip off her tongue unsaid. “Ready to go home?” 

She shrugged, trying to ignore the way her side twinged. “Well, I'm definitely not ready to walk there.” She frowned when Wes started laughing.

“I'd never make you walk home like that, Spatzi. I do have a vehicle.” He stood up, grabbing his keys off his coffee table and offering a hand to her. She hesitated, but ended up taking it. She was trying to rebuild their relationship, she reminded them. They walked downstairs quietly, Ava more interested in navigating them on her own in the least painful way possible. 

The keys unlocked a big black truck, and Wes opened the passenger door for her first. She climbed up into it, sighing in pain once she was seated. She looked around as Wes got in the other side, surprised at the cleanliness. “How long have you had this?” She asked, already reaching to turn off the radio as he started the car. 

“The past few towns.” It would probably be amusing that they used towns as a way to express time, if they had a better reason for moving so often. “It makes it easier to move.” She nodded, knowing it would be so much easier if she didn't have to start over every time she had to leave town. She quietly directed him towards her house. 

“The left side is mine,” she murmured as he was looking at both sides with interest. She knew he'd want to come inside, but she wasn't ready for him to be that familiar with her home. She didn't say anything when he got out of the car when she did. He probably wouldn't ask to come inside. Our mate is worried about us. The wolf whined. More like he thinks I'll get into trouble before reaching my front steps, she grumbled back. Which ended up being true, as Ruth came flying out of the house before she even reached the sidewalk. 

“What the hell happened last night?” She demanded, practically throwing herself at Ava to get a hug. She only just managed to swallow down the noise of pain and keep it from showing on her face. “You stormed up to the house and didn't even bother to wave at me before disappearing!” She had a large frown on her face that only grew bigger when she noticed Wes standing behind her. “And for the love of god, tell me you didn't have a one night stand last night.”

Ava choked a little before pulling out of her embrace and gestured behind her. “Meet Wes. Wes, this is Ruthie.”

“I'm her best friend,” she said, sticking out a hand for him to shake. “You're not making a very good impression, by the way. I can't believe you spirited her away without a word to anyone and bringing her back so late She's already late for work and you don't seem like you care at all!” The blonde had her hands on her waist by this point, a scolding look on her face.

“Why don't we go inside, Ruth? I'm sure Wes has things to do today other than get yelled at in the middle of the street for things that aren't his fault.” 

Wes came up and captured Ruthie's hand again, kissing her knuckles. “It was very nice to meet you, but we'll have to save the interrogation for later. I've got to get to work.” He turned towards Ava and hesitated, obviously unsure what was appropriate for him to do. 

She gave him a tentative wave. “Thanks for driving me home, Wes.” With an almost sad smile, he got back into his truck and left. Ava turned and walked into her house, figuring she could grab her work clothes out of the woods later when Ruth wasn't watching.. “Might as well come in,” she she tossed over her shoulder. “I know you've got a thousand and one questions for me. The blonde followed her in, perching herself on the couch that Ava had ginger flopped herself on. She quietly reviewed the previous day before starting to speak. “I got fired yesterday. Adam couldn't have an employee with such scandalous rumors about her around town.” Sighing, she tried to find a comfortable way to sit that wasn't straining her muscles. “When I got home I was just going to take a walk to clear my head, but I got lost. Wes ended up running into me, and I figured I might as well just stay at his place by that time.”

“Thank god for men and their odd routines to keep in shape.” Ruthie announced, before narrowing her eyes. “And don't think Jason isn't going to get a piece of my mind the next time I see him.”

“Don't bother, Ruthie. He's just eating up all the attention he's getting out of all of this.” She stopped to think for a moment. “Don't you ever have classes?” Now that she thought about it, aside from going to parties and redecorating runs she didn't really see her leave home. 

Ruthie waved a dismissive hand, “They're all online. I figured it'd be easier to deal with if I didn't have to deal with all of those people in person. I don't know how many interior decorators you've met, but all of the professors I've ever met have been super annoying.” She shook her head. “Anyways, back to you. What are you going to do about the job?”

Ava shrugged, “There's nothing I can do. It's not like he's a huge corporation that I can sue for slander, or something.” She knew she wouldn't exactly be hurting for money any time soon, she was always very frugal and saved everything she could back. She never wanted to find herself in a position like this and not have something to fall back on. This wouldn't be the worst thing she'd survived, she was just tired of having to survive things. “I'll find something else to do. It wouldn't be the first time I've waited tables.”

“But that's not fair!” Ruthie said, throwing her hands up in frustration. “You weren't the one who did anything wrong. If anyone should be fired, it should be Jason.” 

Ava was about to say something to attempt to console her when her doorbell rang. She got up, half afraid Wes was back. But instead she saw Anna at her door, looking down at her hands nervously. She looked up when she heard the door open and flashed a weak smile. “Uh, can I come in?” She asked, obviously expecting to be turned away. “I'm sorry for how everyone's been treating you.” She threw out like a lifeline. Ava gestured for her to come in, and led her into the living room where Ruthie was still fuming. “I, uh, I wanted to tell you that Jason did the same thing to me. The whole lying about everything. I didn't even go on a date with him.” She shuffled her feet when she saw both girls staring at her. “I didn't have the courage to tell anyone that it wasn't true. I'm jealous of you that you were. But . . . I was still in high school. Luis and I hadn't even . . . talked to each other yet.” Big, fat tears started rolling down her cheeks. “I still haven't told him. I don't know how to.” She face started to crumple and Ava crossed to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

Anna straightened up after a minute, wiping the tears from Anna's cheeks. “Hey, we were thinking about having a girl's night tonight. Do you want to stay?” Anna's eyes grew big and she nodded. “Great. Come on, I'll go ahead and get the ice cream, why don't you stay in here with Ruthie and pick out a movie?” She left the two girls in the living room and went to rummage in her freezer. She came back with an arms full of ice cream tubs and three spoons. Anna accepted her tub slowly, sitting at the far end of the couch, about as far away from Ruthie as she could get. Ava just slipped between the two and dug into her own tub. “There's nothing like ice cream when you're feeling crappy,” she said to Ruthie, who had a mouth full of ice cream herself. She nodded fervently, and reached over her best friend to grab a scoop out of Anna's tub. The other girl just let her sheepishly, and cautiously took a small spoonful out of Ruth's when she offered with a lopsided grin. “Anyways, since I picked last time, I think it's your turn to pick, Anna.” 

She set down her tub of ice cream on the coffee table and went to look at the movies. She hemmed and hawed for a while before turning to the other two girls. “Are you sure there's nothing that you want to watch?” Both girls shrugged, far more concerned with their ice cream than what movie they watched. It was also Ava's odd way of trying to make her newly found friend feel included. She knew that she was probably making it worse, but she was so out of practice on how to actually welcome someone into her circle that she didn't know how anymore. Ruthie had just carved out her own space, and hadn't needed any prompting. Anna picked something out and came back to the couch, forgetting her ice cream to fiddle with the bottom of her shirt and the beginning credits started. 

When her ice cream started to melt, she took all of them back to the freezer, and brought out the take out menus. Anna participated a little more eagerly when she was asked about food, and Ava gave her a genuine smile. The spent most of the evening watching movies and eating greasy food. All of them seemed to feel a little better by the time they got tired, and Anna took the option of the spare bedroom when they finally got ready to go to bed. She borrowed some of Ruthie's clothes, more suited to her petite frame than Ava's tall and willowy one. Both girls had expressed an interest in how Ava kept in such great shape even though she ate 'practically everything,' according to Ruthie. She just blamed a natural metabolism, and although it was the truth, she hadn't exactly come by it honestly. But it wasn't like she was going to suggest they all turn into creatures of the night. If by some chance Ruthie ever did find out what she was and wasn't scared stiff of her, she knew that she'd have to deal with a whole lot of teasing. There would be at least one high school girl reference, she was sure. 

As it was, Ruthie and Ava laid in bed, talking softly. “I'm surprised that Anna came over today.” She murmured to Ruthie, who was trying to braid her hair. Her fingers stilled for a moment as she looked over at Ava. “I just mean . . . she doesn't seem like the kind of girl to just march up to someone's house like that.” She thought about it for a moment. “I never thought she was really like Tara or that other girl. She was the only nice one that night.” She almost brought up Garrett, but she remembered before the words left her mouth. He still hadn't called or texted Ruthie, despite the encouragement that Ava had tried to give him. Whenever he was brought up, Ruthie grew quiet and usually excused herself. 

“Yeah, Anna always was the nice one. She only hangs out with them because her parents are friends with their parents. So she's always just sort of lumped with them. I feel sorry for her because they always make her do things she doesn't really want to do, and she just goes along with it because she doesn't know how to tell them no.” Ruthie sighed, turning on her side to look at Ava. “Can we adopt her?”

Ava laughed softly, “She's not a kitten.” She shook her head, but there was a soft smile on her face. “But, yeah. I'm totally okay with hanging out with her more. As long as she wants to, too.” She yawned widely, and snuggled into her pillow further. “We can ask her in the morning,” she mumbled, ready to fall asleep. Ruthie nodded, and both girls let sleep claim them.


	9. Chapter 9

She met up with Wes at the little coffee shop downtown, and when she got there he was already sitting down with two mugs in front of him. She settled across from him, and took a small sip of her mug. “You remembered how I like it.” She murmured softly. He shrugged, taking a sip of his own coffee and staying silent. “Thank you for the other day. For taking care of me.” 

“You should know by now that you don't have to thank me for that kind of thing.” She felt a little awkward, not quite sure why she had agreed to this. It was awkward, actually sitting down with Wes and having a cup of coffee. Her wolf was running around, not entirely sure what to do. “Knock knock.” She stilled for a moment, utterly confused. “Knock knock,” he insisted, smiling widely. 

“Who's there?” She asked, hesitantly. 

“Little old lady.”

“Little old lady who.” 

“I didn't know you could yodel.”

And just like that she was laughing, and it was like they were back in high school and everything was fine. She relaxed, and they began talking normally, keeping the conversation all small talk. A few hours ticked by and they both went through several more cups of coffee. After she finished her latest cup, she shook her head. “I should probably get something to eat, all this caffeine will eventually make me so jittery.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Do you want to come over for lunch?”

She watched his face brighten, and she wondered if she was making the right choice. Yes, she had decided to let him in a little bit, but it was still a bit frightening to actually let him come into her house. She'd trained herself for so long that he was someone to keep away that it was hard to let him back in now. 

Ava was stalling when she went up to the door, purposely trying the back door key in the lock. She was beginning to regret agreeing to let Wes come over for lunch, she wasn't exactly sure if she was really ready for him to see her living space. Her wolf, on the other hand, was practically giddy with excitement. Our mate should see where we live. It chided, and if it could physically touch her, she's sure her heels would have been nipped by now. She swung open the door, stepping inside first before turning to watch Wes. He stepped inside slowly, as if he knew that any fast movement would make her startle. He prowled around the front room, absently touching different knick knacks and furniture. Acquainting himself to someplace he should have already, her wolf whined. This was dangerous, she reminded it. He was worming his way further and further into her life. She got bared teeth in response. Our mate shouldn't have to worm his way anywhere.

Shaking her head, she forced herself to see where Wes was, now. He hadn't left the room, probably waiting for her permission before venturing anywhere else, but he was frowning at the shoddy bookshelf she had in the corner of the room. The sight made her smile, and she knew he was already making plans in his head to carve some sturdier bookshelves for her. “Those work well enough.” She voiced, making him look up at her. “No need to go out and buy and wood.”

He shrugged, “They work, I'm sure, but they're hardly up to par.” Despite his obvious dislike of the furniture, he didn't argue further. Instead he came to stand beside her. Sighing softly, she led him into the kitchen and gestured for him to have a seat. She rummaged through her fridge to find something to make for lunch. She pulled out some turkey and mayonnaise. She set it out on the island and pulled out some bread from one of the cabinets. She made them sandwiches, and found some only slightly stale chips in her cupboards. They started eating in silence, neither having much to say. 

Wes finished long before she did, and she tried to hurry so he wouldn't be waiting on her. He dropped their dishes in the sink and started wandering around the downstairs of the house again. He would occasionally touch things as he passed by, or if he stopped in front of them. Her bookshelves got another disdainful glance before moved on to the bottom of the stairs. She nodded to his unasked question and followed him upstairs. He came in and out of the various upstairs rooms, stopping outside her bedroom door last. She shrugged, “You've seen everything else, so you might as well.” He stepped inside slowly, taking everything in. She followed behind him tentatively, almost afraid of what he might see in her from viewing this room.

The first thing he was drawn to was the books on her nightstand, a smile playing on his lips. “These are your favorites, aren't they?” He pulled one out and smiled brighter. “I remember this one from high school, you must really love it for it to still be on your favorites.” She remembered trying to get him to read it in high school. He'd never even bothered to pick it up back then, more interested in playing with his family or friends. “Maybe I'll finally get around to using it. It's got to be really great if it can be on someone's favorites for so many years.” He started flipping through it, and she automatically cringed. “Hey, there's your notes written in the margins!”

“Which is why you'll be finding your own copies.” She said, grabbing it out of his hands and putting it back on her nightstand. She stuck her tongue out childishly. He wandered out onto the veranda, and she followed, leaning against the railing to stare into the trees. “The back yard was why I picked this house. I love being able to see the trees whenever I want.”

“It's beautiful. This whole town is beautiful.” Wes leaned against the railing beside her, brushing elbows with her. It was nice to be able to spend time with him. Without the normal push and pull of their normal relationship. She sighed softly when she noticed Wes was looking at her instead of out at the trees. “Ava . . .” She stayed silent, waiting for him to say something that would ruin the mood. “Will you go hunting with me? Tonight maybe?” She looked over at him, thrown off guard a little that was what he chose to say. “I promise I'll behave it's just . . . it would be so nice to hunt with someone again.”

Ava could easily sympathize, despite only having only hunted with someone else once. Hunting anything over a rabbit or other small game was practically impossible to do by yourself. Plus it was a social experience. Wolves were social creatures, and for the most part they did almost everything as a pack. It was hard being a lone wolf, it was very lonely. “Yes . . .” She mumbled, half terrified and half excited. Wes perked up almost immediately and he pulled her into a hug. She protested for a moment before hugging him back. He pulled her closer and buried his nose into her hair. 

She let herself hug him back, practically drinking up the affection like she'd been starving for it. “Wes . . .” She started, tightening her hands into fists and all but starting to cry. After she'd been turned, she understood all too well why Wes's family had seemed to be overly affectionate. Their wolves viewed affection about as important their need to breathe, as much as the urge to hunt. Ava's wolf practically preened at having the attention of their mate. The lack of affection was why so many lone wolves went rabid. 

“I know,” he soothed, letting go of her to wipe away her tears and give her his best attempt at a smile. “I'll let you get ready. I'll be back around dusk, okay?” She nodded, but her face was still solemn. She had let him walk out of the bedroom door before she remembered. 

“Wes!” She called out after him, meeting him in the doorway to her bedroom. “You can't come in your pelt. Ruthie' s afraid of dogs, and I really don't want to freak her out again.” He arched an eyebrow in question before she rolled her eyes and went on. “I freaked her out with my paw prints around the time I moved in. I can't imagine how much yours would freak her out.” He nodded, then quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek before darting down the stairs. She stayed in the bedroom door until she heard the front door close behind him. She lifted her hand to the spot in her cheek where he had kissed her, butterflies in her stomach. 

She couldn't quite get herself to settle her nerves after that. Between her wolf practically prancing with happiness and the butterflies in her stomach from the kiss she was jittery to say the least. She had to force herself to sit down and start rereading one of her books, but she could barely remember the words she read, even though she should have known them by heart.

She practically fell out of her chair when she heard a knock at the front door, and she hurried to open it. She found Kyle on the other side of the door, and she knew her face had fallen a little bit. “Kyle!” She greeted, forcing a smile back onto her face. “How are you doing today?” Kyle really had been so kind these last few weeks and it wasn't his fault that she was expecting someone else. 

“Sorry for coming over suddenly,” he started, but his voice died off when they heard footsteps coming up her sidewalk. They both looked behind him to see Wes coming up the way slowly, hands in his pockets and his eyes on the pavement. She knew he could tell that Kyle was there, but he was trying to give them some semblance of privacy. 

Wes made his way over to Ava once he'd stepped onto the porch, and she hurried to make introductions. “Wes, this is Kyle. He's one of my good friends.” Was was definitely a lot closer than Kyle was, and she knew that he was trying to make a statement. She sighed softly before continuing. “Kyle, this is Wes. I've known him for . . . well, practically forever.” She knew that Kyle had heard her sigh and she wanted to make it clear that Wes was welcome here.

Wes threw an arm around Ava's shoulders, “We grew up in the same town. We were practically engaged by the time we had grown out of our diapers.” Ava sighed again and wriggled her way out from underneath his arm. The last thing she wanted to do is have to explain the ins and outs of her relationship with Wes to Kyle. She wasn't even really sure where they stood right now. Kyle looked between the two for a moment before taking a step back.

“Anyways, was there something you needed?” She asked as she took a step closer to Kyle. He shook his head, and took a few steps towards the edge of the porch. Ava shot a dirty glance over her shoulder before following after Kyle. It was his fault that Kyle was leaving, she didn't understand why he had to try and scare everyone away. “Hey,” She murmured as she put a soft hand on his shoulder. “You odn't have to worry about Wes. If you need something, you can tell me.”

Kyle just shook her head again. “Thanks, but . . . I'll just come back another day. You two have something planned already, don't you?” He didn't wait for an answer, instead ducking out from under her hand and going down the sidewalk. “Have a good night!” He said as he waved and started walking down the street.

Ava went back to Wes and practically shoved him in her front door and shutting it them behind her. “Why do you always have to do that?” Wes looked at her calmly before walking away to sit down on her couch to listen to her scolding. “What was all that crap about being engaged, anyways? That was a load of lies if I've ever heard any come out of your mouth. What were you even trying to do?”

“He was going to tell you that he liked you,” Wes said, hunching his shoulders and looking at the floor. “I don't know how you couldn't tell. It was written all over his face. In his shoulders. He was nervous, and hopeful. I don't know how you couldn't see it.” He looked back up at her mildly apologetic. “I know I said I'd be on my best behaviour but I just couldn't stand by while he-” He cut himself off, rubbing a hand over his face before looking back up at her. “I don't want to chase away your friends, but if they're chasing after you . . .”

Ava sighed, sitting beside him. “Still, Wes. What you did still wasn't right. Just let them confess. It wasn't like I'm going to jump into their arms and ride off into the sunset with them.” She pushed his shoulder lightly when she saw his smile. “Shut up. It's not like I'm jumping into your arms either.”

His smile didn't dim, if anything it only grew brighter. “But we are going hunting tonight. That's enough for me.” He leaned towards her and for a heart stopping second she thought he was going to try to kiss her, but instead he just rested his face against her shoulder. “I can't even tell you how excited I am tonight.” He sat back up after a few moments, as if he couldn't sit still for very long, and grabbed the bag he'd abandoned by the front door. “I brought a few things, just as a precaution.” He brought out a bottle of water and pressed it into her hands. “You should drink this now. There's no telling how clean the water sources are around here.

She rolled her eyes a little at his over protectiveness, but drank a good portion of it anyways, figuring it couldn't hurt. She raised an eyebrow at him when he kept pacing. “Wes, I know you're excited but can you please just stay still for a moment?” He came and sat beside here again, sighing heavily. “It won't take much longer for it to get dark, I promise.” He nodded but he kept fiddling with the strap of the bag in his lap. She was very thankful when the light had finally slipped behind the horizon, and she followed Wes out into the back yard, giggling softly in anticipation. 

They went far enough into the trees to make sure that they wouldn't be able to be seen by any of the neighbors and stashed the bag in a bush to keep it hidden. Wes stripped down right in front of her, obviously not concerned about her being there. Ava shyly turned her back and undressed and shifted as quickly as she could. Once she was in her pelt, she turned towards Wes. He was prancing in place excitedly, and once he saw that she was shifted, he gave her a toothy grin before taking off running. She took off after him, tail wagging. He led her further into the trees, obviously looking for something. He stopped near a stream sitting down and waiting for her to catch up. Now that he had gotten some of the energy bubbling under his skin he padded over to her, intent on getting to know her in her pelt. She whined as he nosed at her, impatient to actually hunt something. He ignored her, circling around her slowly. Finally she snapped playfully at him before bounding off. He followed after her, and she did her best to get away. She yelped in surprise when he tackled her from the side and they tumbled into the dust. They wrestled playfully for a few moments before Wes stilled, nose tilted to the wind. Ava lifted her nose, still trapped beneath Wes's paws, trying to smell what had caught his attention. 

He climbed over her, crouching low to the ground in a much more graceful way than she thought she ever could. She followed after him, trying to be as silent as possible. She grinned toothily when she saw the doe drinking from the other side of the stream. He left her by a tree, crossing the stream without a sound and circling around behind it. He pounced, scratching it's hind and sending it towards Ava. She got ready to pounce, eyes trained on it's neck. She managed to sink her teeth in, but couldn't hold it. She scrambled out of the way of it's hooves. Wes leapt past her and finished the job in a swift, clean bite. 

She came behind him, careful to stay a few steps away from the kill. Etiquette claimed the kill as Wes' and she sat down to wait patiently. She barked sourly when he began nosing at her, searching for injuries. He ignored her and finished his search before sitting back. He pushed her towards the deer, inviting her to eat first. She stood beside it, nervous to take the first bite, but her wolf was rolling it's eyes. Mates share. Good mates offer first pick. We have a good mate. Appeased, and not wanting to offend Wes, she took a bite. Wes dug in after she took that first bite, and they ate their fill before leaving the rest to scavengers. Ava went to the stream to was herself off. Wes came and purposely got in her way, nosing at her face and playfully biting her, earning a swipe of a paw. He came back contritely, helping her clean off the hard to reach places. 

After they were both clean, they ran back to the edge of the forest. Ava nipped at his tail to get him to stop before running into her backyard. He yipped softly, giving her a glare as she nosed out their bag. Wes changed faster than she did, as she went on the other side of the bushes to change. He was sitting on the ground waiting when she returned fully clothed. “The pack would tease you to death if they could see you now.” 

She rolled her eyes, pulling her coat around her closer, the wind more harsh now that she didn't have her pelt to protect her. She let Wes lead her in the back door, but she stopped him when he started towards the front door, and she wordlessly started up the stairs. He followed her slowly, almost as if he was expecting to be reprimanded. She disappeared into the bathroom for a minute to change into comfortable sleep wear. When she came back out, Wes was sitting on the bed and he had a soft smile for her when he caught sight of her. 

She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before laying on the bed and closing her eyes. She was laying with her back towards Wes, and she let herself relax a little when she heard the rustle of clothing that meant that he was staying. He shut the bedroom door and cracked one of the windows before coming to bed. Curling into her back, he kissed her shoulder. “Thank you for tonight.” Ava didn't say anything, just let herself fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Ava woke up in the early morning, groaning softly at being awake, knowing she didn't have to be at work. She struggled with herself for a minute before sighing and sitting up, pulling away from Wes's warmth. She felt conflicted about her decision to let Wes stay the previous night. Her wolf stretched lightly and berated her softly. Wes is mate, is pack. There is no shame in that. As if sensing her internal debate, Wes tightened his grip around her waist. Looking down, she shook his shoulder softly. “Don't you have to be at the garage this morning?” Her voice was soft from the disuse of the night. “Wes, wake up.” She shook his shoulder again. Wes groaned, burying his face into her side. Ava shook her head, smiling. “Hey, sleepy head. You're more than welcome to the shower.”

Wes finally opened his eyes, half heartedly glaring at her. “Way to ruin my dreams of sleeping in,” he said, yawning widely and stretching hard enough that she heard a couple different joints pop. “I'm stealing your shower,” he mumbled as he got up, grabbing a set of clean clothes from the duffle bag. 

Ava layed back down, drifting back off to the sounds of the shower. It seemed like Wes had only been gone for a few minutes before she felt his weight settle onto the bed. The next moment he was above her, dripping water onto her. “Wes,” she whined as she burrowed deeper into the covers. He laughed before shaking his head like a dog, getting water everywhere. “You jerk!” She pulled her pillow out from underneath her head to toss at him. He came back over apologetically, and she grabbed the towel he'd discarded to dry off his hair. She winced when she reached up to get the back of his hair and found her muscles sore.

“You okay?” He queried worriedly. 

She nodded, absently rubbing her shoulder as she stopped drying him off. “Probably just sore from running around last night. It's been a minute since I've done that.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Aside from the last time I tried to hunt by myself. I'm not entirely sure that counts.” She let Wes convince her to lay back down on the bed, and he started to rub out the knots. Eventually he worked almost all of them out, and she was too relaxed to yell at him to stop rubbing her back. “Now I just want to go back to sleep.”

“Then go to sleep.” He replied, still trailing light fingertips up and down her spine.”It's not like oyu have anything to do today, right?” She shook her head and burrowed further into the pillow. “Alright then. You rest here and I'll go make something to eat.” She grabbed his arm as he started to rise from the bed, her chest tightening in something akin to fear. She knew Wes's wolf would see this as providing for its mate, and she didn't want this morning to turn into commitments that she wasn't ready to make yet. Wes seemed to understand, and he smiled sadly. “Do you want me to go?”

She sighed softly, “I don't know. I don't know what I want. But I feel like everything can fall apart with the slightest misstep and I don't want to mess everything up before I've even begun to fully-” She stopped, frustrated that she couldn't find the words to describe what she was feeling. 

“Does it really seem like everything is that fragile?” He asked as he ran gentle fingers through her hair. “Because after everything else, everything that we've been through so far, I just don't see it. I don't think a breakfast is going to flip everything upside down.” He stilled his hands, looking down at her seriously. “I'm not trying to push for anything more than you're willing to give me. Just . . . don't tease me with your attention just to take it all away again.” Ava didn't say anything, but moved to rest her head in his lap, letting his fingers resume untangling her hair. She closed her eyes as she debated on his words. 

“Okay,” she agreed, telling herself that as long as he wasn't pushing too fast then she could keep her end of the bargain as well. “Okay. I'm not going to take this away from either of us.” His hands stilled again at her words, and she let her head fall from his lap as he stood. 

“I'm going to go make some food,” he waited for her approval before going downstairs. Ava stayed in bed, thinking about what all she had just agreed to. She didn't get up until the scent of food was tantalizing her nose. She followed the smell all the way to the kitchen, sitting down at the island to watch him finish up breakfast, her hoodie wrapped tight around her. “I figured I couldn't go wrong with bacon and eggs. “ He quipped lightly, the energy back in his face. She nodded in agreement as she watched him work around her kitchen like he'd done it a hundred times before. She smiled when he set down a plate in front of her, followed by a large mug of coffee. He settled beside her and started in on his own plate. He gave her a side glance after a moment, “Is it any good?”

She rolled her eyes, nudging his elbow. “You know you're a good cook.” She managed full sentence before taking another bite. “You don't need me to stroke your ego about it. Besides, a girl could get used to this. Breakfast and coffee waiting for her in the morning? You could count me in.” She took another large drink of her coffee.

Wes looked over at her with a serious look, chewing his mouth of food slowly. “You could,” he started after he'd swallowed. “Get used to it, I mean.” Ava looked over at him before looking back down at her food, shaking her head a little. It had barely been half an hour and she felt like he was already pushing at their unspoken boundaries. He caught a glance at the look on her face and he sighed, getting up to scrape the rest of his food into the trash before starting on the dishes. “Sorry for pushing.” He mumbled as he filled the sink with water.

“Wes . . . you cooked breakfast. You don't have to do the dishes.” She tried, setting her fork down on her plate, frowning softly. He just shook his head, continuing to wash. She picked at her food for a while longer, mostly just pushing it around her plate while he finished up the meager amount of dishes from the meal.

“There's more coffee,” he said, as if the air wasn't tense. She darted a glance over at the half full coffee pot before focusing back on her mate. “I have to be getting ready to go to work here soon. There's a car that I've been working on that needs to be done before lunch this after noon, and I'm not even halfway done with it.” A sick feeling settled in her stomach, turning the food she'd just eaten sour. She hated this half talking with her. She hated how he was talking to her, but it felt like he wasn't really talking to her at all. She'd almost rather he didn't say anything at all.

“Wes . . .” She tried again, but she couldn't push the words out of her mouth. Her wolf was hunching it's shoulders with it's tail between it's legs at this point. 'Please don't do this,' she was trying to get her tongue to say, but she couldn't manage it. Wes was stacking the clean dishes into the dish rack now, and she knew she didn't have much more time before he'd leave. He pushed past her softly to head towards the front door. But for some reason it made her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. She heard the door open and shut and realized he hadn't even said goodbye. She rested her head against a cool hand and took a deep breath. The feel of rejection stung, and her chest felt tight. A small part of her couldn't help but wonder if this was what Wes always felt when she would leave town in the middle of the night, or when she'd run away.

She wished she still had to go to work, or that Wes had at least left her the dishes to do. Anything to keep her mind off the feeling in her chest. Without those two distractions, the only others she could come up with were going for a run or cleaning. She made a quick decision and grabbed out her cleaning supplies. She started with the living room, filling a bucket with a mix of what was supposed to be lemon scented all purpose cleaner and water. All she could smell, however, was the sickly sweet tinge of chemicals and all they did was burn her nose. She ignored it, instead focusing on getting everything as clean as she possibly could. Once she had made it to the second room, however, she realized that she had to open a couple of windows to let out some of the fumes. She already knew that her nose wouldn't be of any use for days by this point.

She carried on, though, making her way through the rest of the downstairs until only the bathroom was left. It was the worst room, between the bleach she used and there only being one tiny window. She took a break after than, sitting on her back porch and trying to get as much fresh air as possible. Ruthie spotted her and came to sit by her. “Hey, it smells like a pledge factory over here,”she joked softly, looking over at Ava with a goofy smile on her face. When Ava didn't really respond, the blonde frowned. “I saw Wes leaving this morning,” she mentioned, like she was just mentioning something unimportant. “Anything you need to talk about?” Ava shook her head, looking back down at the porch and picking at pieces of paint that were flaking off. Ruth nodded slowly, leaning abck on her hands. “Well, if you change your mind, you always know where I am.”

“I just . . .can't yet.” She replied, not wanting Ruthie to think that she just didn't want to confide in her. “Besides, I still have all of the upstairs to clean, and it's only . . .” she glanced down at the time on her phone. “Oh. Is it really one thirty already?” She and Wes had woken up so early, so she must have been cleaning for hours by this point. At least it had done it's job in distracting her, she supposed. 

“Are you sure you don't want to just leave the rest of it until tomorrow?” Ruthie asked softly, looking over at her worriedly. Ava shook her head before sighing softly and nodding.

“Yeah. Other than the little stuff that's left downstairs, maybe that's best.” She looked over at Ruthie, smiling a little ruefully. “We had a disagreement this morning. He just wants to push things so fast, and I'm not really ready for all of that apology stuff. And he knows that, we just had a conversation about it this morning.” She shook her head, “I mean he's not pushing for anything extreme or anything like that. I'm just not . . . I'm just not ready to be in a relationship with him.” She rested her head on her friend's shoulder when she pulled her in for a half hug. 

“I'm sure he knows that.” Ruthie said as she looked down at her best friend with a smile. “But you've got to see it from his point of view, too. He's frustrated about the whole situation, I'm sure. He's going to come back, and you two will work everything out.” Ava nodded, still feeling a little glum. She was thankful for Ruthie's kind words, but she still couldn't quite brush off the feeling. After a long moment of staring out into the back yard, Ava stood up, brushing herself off.

“Thank you, Ruthie. I really needed someone to talk to.” She smiled, and gestured back towards the house. “I should probably finish up the little things in here. I'd invite you in, but you should probably have to wear some kind of mask to come inside.” Ruth laughed as she went over to her side, waving goodbye. Ava went back inside, her nose wrinkling at the smell of the cleaning supplies. She opened up the rest of the windows and did the rest of the little things that she needed to do. She jumped when she heard her front door open and shut. There could only be one person who'd feel comfortable enough just to walk in.

Wes walked into the kitchen a few moments later, nose crinkled. “Ava? Why does the house smell like the center for chemical warfare?” He looked like he was trying to hold his breath for as long as possible. She shook her head at him, turning away to continue scrubbing at the stain on the counter top. He stepped closer, only a few paces away, just staring. It grated at her nerves, and she grew tenser for every minute that he stared. Wasn't he going to say anything at all? She jumped a little when he touched her shoulder, turning her to face him. She schooled her face into an angry look, trying to hide the fact that she was hurt. “Ava . . . “ He breathed out. “Why don't you get out of the house for a while. Maybe come down to the shop with me. It's not good for you to breathe all of this in.” She shrugged, staring at the ground. He sighed and pulled her in close. “I'm sorry about this morning.” He murmured into her ear. 

“It hurt.” She hated that her voice broke, and she buried her face into his shoulder. “”Is this always what it feels like?” She hoped that he'd understand what she was trying to say. The words that she couldn't give voice to. He gripped her closer.

“Sometimes.”

“I'm sorry too,” she murmured, nosing into him closer. “I'm so sorry.” He pulled away and wiped her cheeks, getting rid of the tears she hadn't realized she was shedding. 

“Come on, let's grab you a coat.” He rummaged around in the living room closet and pulled one out. He made sure she was wrapped up before leading her out the front door. Ava looked behind her to see Ruthie giving her a big smile and a thumbs up. She turned back around and accepted the arm that Wes was offering to her. She could definitely tell that it was starting to become winter, and she leaned closer to Wes. He always had put out an absurd amount of body heat. They were quiet on the way there, but this silence didn't bother Ava. She was thinking too much about their situation that she didn't even notice that they'd gotten to the garage until she heard someone wolf whistle. Wes laughed good naturedly, but pulled her closer nonetheless and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Guys, this is Ava.”

She waved, a little shy and a little nervous as the guys greeted her back. She looked up at Wes, who instantly made her feel better when he smiled warmly at her. She was with Wes, after all. It wasn't like he couldn't trust him to make sure that nothing would happen to her. She was practically on his heels when he went further into the shop. He popped open the hood of one of the cars not lifted into the air. “Here, sweetie, you can sit on this. It's one of the cleaner ones we have.” One of the guys told her as he set down a crate beside her. She thanked him shyly before scooting it a little closer to the car and sitting down. 

Wes handed her a shirt with his name embroidered on the front, “Use it to sit on.” He instructed softly, and she took it as the guys started heckling Wes for bringing a girl to work. He just laughed at their jesting and made a few jokes back as he started in on the car. Ava just watched quietly, trying to take in everything that she could. She hadn't been able to watch him like this in a long time. It was unusual to see him so relaxed, and just being himself. It seemed like all of the guys liked him, despite how little time he must have had to make friends. They all quieted after a few minutes, back to concentrating on their work. A radio played softly in the background. “Do you want to watch?” Wes asked her softly, looking up from the inside of the car. 

She nodded, getting up and coming over to stand next to him. “Someone brought this in complaining that it was making some strange sounds. All that was wrong, though was a belt going bad. So I'm going to put a new one in.” She nodded, watching him attentively as he took out a large band of rubber and handed it to her. “See right here, too much longer and it would have snapped in two.” She nodded, the part that he was point to was almost all the way cracked in two, and there were cracks all over. He pulled a new one out of a box that was laying beside him on the ground. He put it in, tinkering with it for a little longer before shutting the hood with a clang. “And it's all done now.. Do you want to drive it into the lot?” He asked as he pulled open the driver's door. 

She peeked inside before shaking her head. “I don't know how to drive a stick.” She tried to keep her voice quiet, hoping to keep the other mechanics from overhearing. Wes laughed softly before jumping into the car himself and driving it over. She huffed when she saw that he was still laughing when he came back. “It's not my fault! I never had anyone to teach me when I was younger.” 

He finally stopped laughing, tilting his head as he looked at her. “I should have taught you in high school, then. I had that truck for the longest time. Do you remember the one?” She nodded, rolling her eyes and looking around them. The one that had given her the crate was walking over to them, an easy going smile on his face.

“Hey, we don't really have that many more cars to finish today,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck. Ava couldn't help but watch the smears his fingers left in oil on his neck. “So, we figured you could go ahead and go. No need to keep this pretty lady holed up in a shop all night.” The other guys started making a fuss again, cat calling and making joks about Wes going on a date. Ava found herself blushing, and she looked to Wes, who was just laughing at their jokes. He waved a goodbye as he led her away from the garage. 

He waited until they were far enough to be out of earshot before speaking. “Want to go on another run tonight?” He waggled his eyebrows. She bit her lip as she thought, not really sure if it would be the best idea.

She finally shook her head, “I don't think we should risk it. I know we've been pretty lucky so far, the only one that's ever seen us in the woods has been Garrett sof ar.” She ignored his scowl at the mention of the other were and continued on. “Eventually someone is going to see us, whether it's Ruthie or someone else in town.\, and we'll have to leave. The woods really aren't all that big, and we don't really stray that far from town.”

Wes nodded, taking his time before speaking again. “You like it here, don't you?” When Ava glanced over at him, he had his gaze carefully trained on the pavement beneath his feet. “Do you think you'll ever want to move?” She found herself shrugging, not wanting to think about it too hard. Most of the time she didn't get the opportunity to think about whether or not she wanted to move. He continued when she didn't elaborate. “I think I could live here for a while. It's definitely better than some of the places we've been.” Most of her split second moving decisions had landed them in big cities, which neither took very well to.

She was almost surprised at how fast they had made it home, the conversation making the walk seem quicker than it actually was. They stopped at the front door, and Ava had the distinct feeling of being at the end of a date, standing out on the front porch. Actually, it sounded a lot like some of their dates from high school. “Do you want to stay for dinner?” She asked, not quite ready to be alone yet. The sting of the earlier fight still ached in her chest. 

She watched Wes's eyes light up, “I'd love to.” He followed her inside, and let her convince him into a shower, as she started complaining about him tracking oil everywhere. “Sorry, sorry,” he apologized, holding his hands up to keep from touching anything else. “”i know you just cleaned today.” He ran up the stairs and soon after she heard the shower running.

She took a deep breath in the kitchen, and was pleased to find that the house had mostly aired out since her cleaning attack on it earlier. She closed all the windows to keep the chill of night out of the house. Then she tried to figure out something easy for dinner She threw a couple of half thawed chicken breasts into the oven, and started chopping up some vegetables to add in a little later. 

She had just put everything in the oven when Wes came back downstairs, heard dripping with water again. “Do you ever towel off?” She asked, playfully exasperated. He just grinned in response, sitting down at the island. “So, the guys seem nice.” She blurted as she came to sit across from him. 

“They're pretty good guys.” Wes said, smiling fondly. “The one who gave you the crate today, that's the owner. He was really kind to me when I first moved in. He's actually the one who helped me find my apartment.” Ava nodded, listening to him attentively as he started to regale her with stories about his coworkers. He covered amusing anecdotes all the way to more serious stories, which included bad days at work or troubles the other guys had at home. Honestly, the way the guys all acted with each other it reminded Ava of a pack. They seemed to have very few limits when it came to helping each other out. 

She listened while she finished up dinner, pulling the chicken and vegetables out of the oven. Wes was obviously fond of them. “I'm glad you found people like them.” She commented as she set his plate down in front of him. He stopped talking for a moment, instead opting to stare at her for a moment. She cleared her throat awkwardly and started mumbling about the chicken. “It's not too spicy, I remembered you don't really care for spicy things.”

He looked down at his plate before looking back at her, a concerned look on his face. “Have you found anyone like that?” He asked, watching her chase carrots around her plate.

She took a moment to come up with an answer. “I have Ruthie. And, Garrett is a part of that, I suppose. They about come as a package deal anymore. Well, I guess not as much anymore. I kind of messed that up for her.” She took a bite of chicken, thinking about the rest of the people she hung out with. “I guess Kyle is, kind of. I mean, we hang out quite a bit, even if I don't confide in him like I do Ruthie. And Anna's starting to hang around more, too.”

She told him more about Ruthie while they ate, since she was the one she mostly hung out with and confessed things to, even if she couldn't tell her everything. Then she started on what she'd said to Garrett, why he wasn't talking to Ruth anymore. “I didn't really mean to mess everything up. I just . . . didn't want him to hurt her. I was still half afraid that he was more concerned with what we are than actually wanting to talk to Ruthie.” She sighed, playing with the food on her plate again. “I didn't think he'd just stop talking to her altogether. Just maybe, be extra careful about where he shifted.”

Wes chewed slowly for a second, thinking about his response before answering. “Well, I can't say that I really blame him. If he really did like Ruthie, and he had just found out that she's terrified of canines, I can't say that I'd stick around either. Even if she never found out there would always be a part of me that would know that she was terrified of me.” He shrugged a little, scooping up another forkful of vegetables.

“I didn't think I'd ever see the day where you agreed with Garrett,” she said sourly, more worried with the extra realization that she really had messed things up. She started stabbing peas, watching them roll around her plate. 

Wes reached over and stilled her hand. “Hey, I don't think you did the wrong thing. Just . . . maybe this is the best for the two of them. Maybe they weren't supposed to end up together.” She sighed, but let the subject drop. Wes hadn't seen the two of them together, hadn't seen Ruthie mope around since. 

When they were finished eating they just pushed the plates out of their way and continued talking. It felt good to catch up. Wes was the only confidant she'd ever had, the only that she could really tell everything to.. She finally ran out of stories she wanted to tell and she set the dishes in the sink before they moved into the living room. She sat down with dread in the pit of her stomach. She was realizing how much she was attached to this town, despite the trouble she'd had here. Wes leaned back on the couch, his smile soft as he looked over at her. Ava felt her heart beat thumping into her chest and she looked away quickly,, not catching the amused twitch in Wes's smile. “Why don't we watch something?” She asked, already getting up to look through her movies for something they both would like. 

She absently put something in and went back to sit beside him on the couch. She watched the movie, but was distracted by her thoughts. She knew it would be far too unrealistic to already forgive him and forget everything that had happened when they were younger but . . . if she really thought about it, it hadn't been just the time they'd had in Ridgewood, it had been the past five years. But, she knew that she might just be trying to make herself feel better about how easily Wes fit back into her life. At how easy it was to fall for him all over again. By the time she stopped thinking so much, the movie was over, and she was close to cuddling with Wes, his heat radiating towards her in waves. He smiled down at her, “I thought you might fall asleep a couple of times.” He stretched, letting out a big yawn. “You have a spare bedroom upstairs, right?” 

She nodded slowly, trying to bite her tongue. Her wolf growled at her lowly, and she finally gave in. “You can just stay in my room, if you want.” It seemed to take Wes a moment before he realized that she was really offering, and he nodded, grinning widely. She felt like an idiot while they walked upstairs, and she immediately grabbed her nigh clothes and went into the bathroom. She took a moment in the bathroom, feeling like Wes could probably hear her heartbeat even this far away it was beating so hard. Once she had finished changing and steeled herself, she returned to the bedroom. Wes was already beneath the covers, and she climbed in shyly. 

She couldn't keep still for the first few minutes, until Wes molded himself ot her back and tucked his face in the crook of her neck. “Sleep, Spatzi.” He ordered, wrapping his arm tight around her waist. It was easier to settle, then, and she soon felt herself drifting off, feeling safe for the first time in years.


	11. Chapter 11

She knew something was wrong when she woke up. It was still pitch black outside, but Wes wasn't in bed. She sat up, rubbing a hand over her eyes fiercely to get rid of the bleariness, and looked around for him. She spotted him staring out the balcony windows, and she got out of bed to stand beside him. She was surprised when he pulled her into his arms, still intently looking out at the back yard. When she leaned forward to see what he was looking at, he let out a low growl. “Hunters.” She spotted the two men dressed in dark clothing hidden a little ways into the trees, staring at the house. It looked like they were talking to each other, and she wished she could hear what they were saying. 

She looked up at him, truly afraid for the first time in a long time. Sure, Wes had made her nervous, had made her feel all kinds of crazy things, but she'd never really been afraid of him. She knew that he'd never hurt her. But hunters? They were a whole different ball game. Their whole outlook on life was to hurt her and people like her. “How did they-”

“How do they ever find any of us?” He asked, pulling her even closer, as though holding her to him would keep her safe from the men outside. They watched them silently for several minutes, watched them poke around the treeline for a while before they moved on to the next section of land. Once they were out of sight, Wes led Ava back to bed, tucking her under the covers before forming himself to the shape of her back, one arm wrapped around her protectively. “Go to sleep, spatzi. Nothing is going to happen tonight.” She half buried her face in the bed, trying to drown out her fears so that she could go to sleep. Wes started to rub his fingers up and down her arm, and she slowly relaxed. The longer he did it, the closer she felt to sleep, until she finally fell into dreams.

– 

When she woke up again, Wes was still in bed beside her, limbs tangled with hers. His grip was slightly looser, but he was still protectively curled around her. It made her feel safe, and loved, and protected. It made her wolf want to bury herself in the covers beside him and not get up until their bellies made them. Instead, she sighed and gently cupped Wes' face. “Wes. Wes, it's almost time to go to work.” She saw his forehead crinkle, and she quirked a half smile before trying again. “Wes, come on. It's time to wake up.” 

He finally opened his eyes with a scowl, though it came out sleep and not at all threatening. “Five more minutes.” She shook her head, poking and prodding at him until he was looking at her with clearer eyes. “Fine, fine. I'm awake.” He rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. Ava sat up on one arm, curious about what was troubling him. Sure, the hunters were a problem, but it wasn't like they were waiting to bust down the front door. “What's Ruthie doing today?” He asked, jerking her out of her thoughts. She shrugged suspiciously. “Why don't you two get out of town today. Go window shopping and get coffee or something.” 

She rolled her eyes, “I am going to be fine while you're at work, you know.” He just continued staring at the ceiling, so she got up out of bed. She started rummaging through her clothes, not caring that she was unfolding half of them as she looked for something to wear. “I'm not a child, I know how to get by undetected. It's not like I'm going to go running off into the woods as soon as you turn your back on me. And I definitely don't need a babysitter. And even if I did, I wouldn't put Ruthie in harms way just because you think the hunters might not attack me because I'm with a human!”

Wes crossed over to her and wrapped her up tightly against him. “I'm not trying to foist you off with someone that's going to babysit you till I get off. I just . . . want to make sure you're safe. Just because the hunters don't know that you're a wolf, doesn't mean that they won't do something stupid that will put you in danger. Some of them don't care about humans lives either, as long as they're killing what they're aiming for.” Sighing softly, he looked down at the ground. “I'm only just now starting to get you back. I can't lose you again now.” His voice dropped down to a mumble. “I'm just trying to keep you out of any crossfire.”

She sighed, letting her head rest on his chest. “Fine. I'll see what Ruthie's doing today.” But she knew that Ruth would be more than willing to go on a girl's day. She was always trying to get Ava to go do things out of town with her but lately . . . she realized that Wes had really taken up a good portion of her time the past few weeks. She pulled out her phone and sent Ruthie a text. Afterwards she went and laid back on the bed. “Leaving town can wait at least a couple of hours, right?” She asked, looking up at him. 

His mouth quirked a little before he answered. “Just make sure that you're going out to lunch or something.” Ava got a chime that was probably Ruthie replying to her. She ignored it for the moment, more content to lay the warmth of her bed. Wes leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I'll text you when I can just to make sure everything's okay.” She rolled her eyes at him, but nodded. “I'll lock the door behind me.” He said right before leaving.

Ava laid in bed for a while longer before she getting up and looking through her clothes again, this time trying to fix the mess she had made. She jumped when she heard someone banging on her front door. She crept downstairs, only half aware that she was half dressed. She recognized the bouncing curls of her friend and she sighed, opening the door. “What was that? You scared me half to death!” 

“Since when have you been locking your front door during the day?” Ruthie asked, grumpy and Ava was only now realizing that the other girl was in her night clothes, her hair even messier than it usually was. “You texted me about going out of town today, I figured I'd come over here and get ready and make sure you're not wearing something totally inappropriate.” She stepped past Ava without giving her more than a glance and bee lined for the coffee pot. Once it was on and brewing, she turned back to her friend. “Like that.” She looked her over, raising an eyebrow at what she saw. “What are you wearing?”

“I was in the middle of getting dressed when it sounded like someone was busting through my front door.” She grumbled, going back up stairs to finish getting ready. Ruthie followed after her a few minutes later, two cups of coffee in her hands. 

She flopped onto the bed after she set both mugs down, and sighed tiredly. “What time are you wanting to leave?” Ava just shrugged at her before going back to digging into her clothes. She wasn't really sure what to wear. If they were going to be outside for most of the day, she didn't want to be under dressed, as it the weather was definitely starting to take a colder turn. And if they were staying for dinner, it would be even colder once the night fell. She ended up deciding on layers, things she could easily fit into her purse in case she got too warm. She glanced back at Ruthie to see her sleeping half on and half off the bed. Laughing softly, she came over and started tickling her foot. The blonde grumbled a little and pulled her foot in closer. She eventually opened her eyes and pushed at Ava with her feet. “Ava,” she whined, finally sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “That's mean.” 

Ava pushed the lukewarm coffee into her hands and sat on the bed beside her. “Come on, I'd like to at least get there in time for lunch.” She took a sip of her own coffee and nudged her friend with her foot. “So you've got to wake up.” Ruthie grumbled a little more as she drank a good portion of her coffee. Once she had some caffeine in her, though, she was a little more energetic and she went into the bathroom to start to tame her curls into something a little more manageable. Ava was almost done getting ready by the time Ruthie had come back out. 

“I just need to get dressed,” She was already pulling on her pants and the rest of her clothes followed soon after. Once both girls were ready, they got into Ruthie's rarely used car, travel mugs of coffee in hand. “It's been a while since we've gone on one of these.” Ruthie said, turning down the radio a little so it was more background music than anything else. 

“Yeah,” Ava replied, feeling guilty. “Sorry I haven't been hanging out as much. I know Wes has taken up a lot of my time here lately.”

Ruthie shook her head, “It's okay, I understand. You two have a lot to figure out, and it's gotta be weird ending up in the same town together again.” She tilted her head a little, darting a glance over at her. “You two seem to manage alright, though. You must be destined to be together or something.”

Ava laughed, but she knew it wasn't as real as it could have been. “Quit with that romance heroine thing.” She knew that Ruthie was almost on the right track, but it wasn't destined. They'd just mated to each other when they were probably too young to make that kind of choice. The rest of the car ride was filled with idle talk, both girls catching up with each other. Ava practically fell out of the car when they finally parked, and she took a moment to stretch to loosen up her cramped muscles before following after Ruthie.   
“I'm half starved.” Ruthie complained, practically stamping her feet in an attempt to get Ava to walk faster. They went into the first restaurant they saw and ordered food. Ruthie had snagged a map of the mall, and they made plans about where all they were going to go and in what order. Ava didn't really have any plans on actually buying anything, and was more than happy to let Ruthie plan the day. 

After they ate, they hit the stores, and she couldn't imagine how much fun shopping could be. Half of it was the way Ruthie shopped, all excitement and cheer. She made Ava try on the most ridiculous clothes, most of the things she would never wear and took pictures of everything. “Oh my god, you have to get it.” Ruthie exclaimed at a particular dress she had picked out. “You could wear it one day when you're on a date with Wes!” Ava rolled her eyes, but went to look at herself in the mirror. After a brief moment of deliberation she ended up buying it. It would be nice to have a new nice outfit. 

After, Ruthie claimed they needed to find some shoes to match, and thus started the next couple hours of searching through what seemed like endless shoe stores. None of them had what Ruth thought was good enough to go with the dress. After the fifth shoe store, she tugged Ruthie to a pretzel stand, and they sat in the food court for a while. 

Ava got a text from Wes while they were sitting down. She sent back a quick reply, so he would know that everything was fine. It was a relief to know that nothing had happened back in Ridgewood, either. Maybe the hunters were just passing through, and they didn't really know that anyone was a werewolf. She looked up to see Ruthie smiling softly at her. “What?”

Ruthie just shook her head softly, “You're texting him, aren't you?” Ava looked down at the table a little guiltily. “It's not a bad thing. It's just . . . I can tell. You get this look. It's cute,” she said as she stood up to throw away their trash. Wes texted her again saying that he'd have to talk to her tonight, and it instantly made her stomach drop. “Everything okay?” Ruthie asked when she came back.

“I don't know.” She mumbled, trying to think of something to text back to Wes. 

“Why don't you just call him?” Ruthie suggested, as she pointed over her shoulder. “I have to run the the bathroom real quick anyways.”

She nodded, and watched the blonde walk off a ways before dialing Wes's number. “Ava? Is everything okay?” 

“You tell me,” she replied, softly. “What do we need to talk about?”

She heard him chuckle a little over the line, and she frowned. “Sorry, should have worded it better. I just meant that we should talk about what we precautions we should take now that we have hunters in town.” She let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. “I really am sorry. I didn't think before sending it.”

“It's fine,” she shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see it. “I just . . . wanted to make sure you were okay. That nothing had happened.” She paused for a moment before almost banging her head on the table. “You haven't told Garrett, have you?” She asked tentatively. The two still were at odds, both still sore about the day she had been hurt by the deer. She took his silence as a no. “Well, then, I'm going to call him while Ruthie's still in the bathroom. I really don't need her overhearing that conversation.”

“I'll call him. Just give me his number.” She hesitated, not sure if she should open up a line between the two, half afraid that they were going to end up in wounds. “Ava, I'm not going to attack him or anything. It's either this or I show up at his job, which would be a lot more threatening than a phone call.” She sighed and rattled off the numbers. “Thank you. I'll take care of it, I promise. Just because I don't really care for him doesn't mean that I want the hunters to get to him.” She murmured a thank you and a quick goodbye, as she could see Ruthie heading back towards her. “Be careful,” he managed out before she heard the click of an ended call. 

“Get everything settled?” Ruthie asked, gathering up her bags. When Ava nodded, she linked arms with her and pulled her off to do more shopping. Ava managed to put the whole mess out of her mind again, and helped Ruthie pick out some cute outfits. Ava opted on heading back home for dinner, as she was starting to get a little worried. She hadn't heard anything else from Wes in the past couple of hours, and she couldn't figure out if she was more worried about Wes and Garrett, or Wes and the hunters. By the time they made it back into the car, both girls were complaining about their feet hurting. Ava drove home, giving Ruthie a chance to take a cat nap on the way. Apparently she still had to finish one of her papers for school tonight. 

The knot in Ava's stomach eased a little when she saw Wes's truck parked in front of her house. She quietly woke Ruthie up and helped her carry in her bags before going over to her side of the duplex. “Wes?” She called out as she unlocked the front door. She heard footsteps upstairs and she waited at the bottom, just in case, but Wes came plodding down the stairs. His hair was wet and there were water droplets on his bare shoulders. 

“How was today?” He asked as he came close, pulling her in close to rest his forehead against hers. She didn't protest, knowing they both needed the added affirmation that they were both okay. She shrugged her shoulders, not really interested in rehashing the entire day. 

She stayed like that until the water dropping from his hair started to soak through her shirt. “Do you ever dry off?” She asked, pulling away and going into the kitchen. He shrugged, and came closer, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Don't you dare,” she started, backing away hand held out in front of her. “Wes,” she warned right before he ran after her and started shaking his head, getting water all over her.. She laughed as she pushed him away, wiping away the water from her face.

She got a dish towel out of one of the drawers and started to wipe the rest of herself and the counter tops down. “Are you hungry?” She asked as she started rummaging through the fridge. “We didn't eat up there, Ruthie had a paper to write for school, or something.” She looked back at him when he didn't say anything. He was propped up in the door frame to the living room, a wide grin on his face. “What?” She asked, straightening out of the fridge to stare back at him. 

“Or because you were worried about me.” He teased, crossing his arms in front of him smugly. Ava rolled her eyes and just went back to going through the fridge for food. “You can try to act like you weren't, but you forget I know you.” He moved to sit at the island, drumming his fingertips on the counter. “I called Garrett and warned him about the hunters. Told him to call me if he noticed anything with them, or if he gets into any trouble with them.” He sighed and came up behind her to close the fridge door. “Why don't we just order in? You probably had a long day of shopping anyways. I know you always used to complain about shopping with Taylor before.”

Ava shrugged, “Shopping with Ruthie really isn't that bad. She's better at . . . making it entertaining, I guess.” She got out the take out menus and handed them to Wes. “Can you just order something for me? I want to go take a shower.” She left him standing in the kitchen as she went upstairs. 

She turned the water on as hot as she could stand and then just stood under the spray. The more she spent around Wes, the less she felt like she had a reason to keep him away. Even today he was showing her more ways that he really had changed. She couldn't imagine Wes actually talking to another were that he felt threatened by and warning him about anything. Especially not in an unfamiliar territory without a pack to stand with. 

She dressed in the comfiest clothes she had when she got out, padding downstairs to find Wes sitting on the living room floor, looking through her movie collection unhappily. “I haven't even had a chance to realize how few movies you have that's even relatively recent in the way of movies.” He didn't turn around or look away from the dvds, but he'd realized she was there nonetheless. She had thought she had been quiet enough to sneak up unnoticed and she couldn't quite figure out how he did it. 

Mentally dropping it, figuring it was just a Wes thing, she answered his not question with a shrug. “Never really have a chance to go see anything or trailers. I usually don't get cable because it was always too much of a hassle to disconnect or have it move with me. So I pretty much just watch my meager collection of dvds.” She vaguely remembered glancing at Wes' entertainment stand the last time she was over and thinking that he had an absurd amount of movies. “Just because I don't have your dedication to film doesn't mean that I have no entertainment at all.” She gestured towards her bookshelves. “I more than make up for movies in books, I think.” 

Wes was saved from a reply by someone knocking on the door. Ava let him get it, assuming that it was the take out that they had ordered. But when she heard a loud thump, she got up from the couch cautiously, creeping towards the front door. She stumbled back when Wes barreled back towards her through the doorway. “Bad news, I think they know there's weres in Ridgewood.” He said before he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out her back door.


	12. Chapter 12

How they made it back to their hometown, Ava couldn't say. Every car with tinted windows on the freeway was another hunter, about to lean out of their window and shoot Wes, every detour was a barricade they had set up to snare them. Wes kept frowning at her, as if he could tell what was on her mind. He'd told her to relax once or twice but she couldn't seem to untangle the knots in her chest. She audibly sighed when they crossed the town limits, breathing easy for the first time since they'd left Ridgewood. 

Her relief was short lived, as a car behind them suddenly slammed on the gas, hitting the back of the truck and forcing them off the road. Wes threw out an arm as if it was going to help, and Ava just thanked the gods that the truck didn't roll over in the ditch. Wes was out of the truck before Ava could even get her seat belt unbuckled, and she could hear the snarling that meant he was in his pelt. Stupid, she thought. Protective, her wolf replied. She heard the pained yelp that meant he'd been hurt right before she heard the howls in the woods. She couldn't pinpoint exactly how many were coming, not with the way they were obviously throwing their voices to sound like so many, but it didn't matter. Help was coming. She managed to get out of the truck and stumbled towards the bed and saw the hunters mid deliberation. Once they saw her, several took a few steps back. The rest soon followed, and they were driving away as the pack was coming out of the trees. Ava was kneeling beside Wes when they finally made it to her, a couple of them shifting back into their skin. Wes was unconscious, and wouldn't wake up not matter what she did. “What did they do to him?” She asked, her eyes practically begging the closest wolf to help her. She recognized Carol, the alpha female if she remembered correctly.

Carol's mate, Tavren, was the first to speak, rolling the dart Ava had dropped in his fingers. “This is not a . . . pleasant drug.” He said in his slow way of speaking. “It forces the shift, keeping you in your pelt. And then it takes the wolf and breaks it until it no longer recognizes friend from foe.” He gave her a sympathetic look, which shook her. He wasn't the kind to show emotion, let alone something like this, unless it was something- She shook her head, derailing that line of thought. Wes was going to be fine.

“He'll be fine though, right? Once it wears off?” 

Carol came and rested a soft hand on her back. “We've yet to see someone get better.” The look on her face was mournful. “We've had to put down everyone that had been shot, as they will attack anyone and anything.” She paused for a minute. “Even their mates.” 

Ava placed a hand on Wes, digging her fingers into her fur. “You won't touch him.” She glared at them as a whole, the pack shifting uneasily when she stared defiantly at their alpha. “You don't know Wes. He would never hurt me.” Even Tavren was surprised that she was defying him, an alpha with such pull. But the only alpha her wolf had ever known was Wes, and she knew it would take no substitutes. She felt no urge to obey him just because he was an alpha. She tilted her head up, daring him to step closer. 

“He'll kill you and not even blink. Won't even remember why his human side would think it was a tragedy.” He argued, trying to regain his footing. “Why are you trying to defend him now. There was no lost love between you two when you both ran away in the night.”

She pulled Wes closer to her, “You don't know what we've been through.” 

“What you put him through, you mean.” Tavren asked, baring his teeth. But his teeth were human, and Ava had been through too much to be cowed by such a gesture. “His wolf barely needs a push to mark you as prey.” Wes stirred a little and she felt the tension in the air. “Just let us take care of him before he hurts someone.”

She made the most inhuman snarl that she could out of her human mouth. “Just leave us alone. If he kills me then you don't have anyone to stop you. But you won't touch a hair on him while I'm still alive. He's still Wes. Just because he can't shift back doesn't mean that he's lost all reason.” She almost swiped when someone approached her, but she almost recognized the woman. She let her press a key into her hand.

“There's an old cabin that we used to go to when he was young and couldn't control the shift. You'll be secluded out there.” Ava looked down at the key and realized it was Wes' mother. “If he'd remember anyone, it would be you.” She joined the rest of the pack, already shifted back. Their fur melded with the trees and they left her as they had come, except these were howls of mourning. She took a moment to steel herself before finding the clothes Wes had discarded when he'd shifted. She unlaced the belt from his pants to makeshift a muzzle around his groggy nose. Somehow she found the strength to get Wes back into the cab of the truck. She started driving, trying to remember where the cabin was. He'd taken her there a few times when she was newly changed. When she would have panic attacks and would be terrified of shifting in public. 

It took her longer than she liked, and Wes was beginning to stir again. She managed to coax and pull him in the door. She scoured the place as fast as she could, finally finding something suitable enough for a collar and something to tie it to the metal bedposts in the master bedroom. Thankful that she had something that would give him the ability to roam around the room. After she'd tied to it, she shut the door and locked it behind her, sagging a little bit. Shaking her head, she straightened back up, knowing she still had things to do before she could rest. She returned to the kitchen to go back through the cabinets, accounting for what they had in the way of food. There was very little there, a few canned goods that had expired over a year ago. Sighing, she grabbed the keys and made her way into town. 

She walked into the little store with her head held high, like it wasn't going to be terrifying. She knew that everyone's eyes were on her. She hadn't changed enough to be unrecognizable. She could feel the werewolves surprise at her being alive, the tightness of fear in their spine about where Wes might be. If he'd killed anyone yet. And then there were the regular townspeople. Staring at the girl who up and left without so much as a word all those years ago. She grimaced at the thought of her parents, who she hadn't seen or talked to in years. She would run into them eventually, her hometown even smaller than Ridgewood. She ignored their stares, going through the store and finding things that would keep. She hesitated in front of the meat aisle, unsure of how hungry Wes was going to be when he finally woke from whatever cocktail of drugs they had given him. She ended up getting two of each kind of meat, dry foods like pasta and cereal, and a lot of canned goods. She smiled tiredly at the lady in the checkout. “Having a large party for one of my friends,” she explained, trying to keep her story light and boring. They'd sooner forget about the runaway throwing a party sooner than the runaway stocking up on food as if the world was ending. 

She made it out of the store without talking to anyone else, and she thanked the gods for small favors. She got everything into the fridge before going to check up on Wes. He was laying on the bed, and he looked up and growled when he noticed her. She shut the door, heart pounding, before steeling herself again and opening the door to slide in a raw steak for him. She hurriedly closed the door again when she heard him jump onto the floor. She went back into the living room to eat a fruit cocktail straight out of the can. Once she'd stomached as much as she could, she started cleaning the cabin, tired of the dust tickling her nose every time she moved. It helped settle her nerves to see everything clean.

She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, so she pondered over the books in the bookshelf she'd found in the far corner of the living room. Most of them seemed to do with wood carving or mechanics or gardening. But there were a few fiction novellas, and she pulled one down. She wrapped herself in one of Wes' hoodies before settling on the armchair, she started reading. She read late into the night, until she fell asleep with the book still in her hand. 

She woke the next morning to a pounding on the front door and a crick in her neck. Rubbing the sore muscle, she got up, tripping on the book that must have fallen to the floor in the middle of the night. She was only half surprised to see Tavren at the door. “Ava. Where is he?” She scowled at his tone and continued to rub her neck. He sighed impatiently, as if she were taking too long to answer. 

Rolling her eyes, she turned to back to the chair, leaving the door open for him to come in, if was so inclined. “He's in the bedroom. He's been there all night, so if anyone has turned up it was probably the hunters.” She turned towards him. “Was that all you needed?” His face was stony as he shut the door behind him before walking past her and down the hall. “Wait, what do you think you're doing?”

The alpha turned to stare at her like she was stupid. “I'm going to see what his condition is. And if I need to, I'll get rid of him.” Her muscles were still heavy with sleep, so she wasn't quick enough to stop him from opening the bedroom door. She heard Wes' savage growls from inside the room and she shoved past Tavren to throw herself between the two. Closing her eyes, she steeled herself to feel pain, to feel teeth dig into her skin and tear. She jumped when she felt a cold nose against her hand, opening her eyes to see Wes sniffing at her curiously. After apparently sniffing her to his satisfaction, he sat in front of her calmly. The calm didn't last, as Tavren took a step closer to Ava and Wes immediately started growling at him.

“This is an interesting development.” He quipped calmly, even as he backed away from her. Wes settled back down but kept an eye on the alpha. “I'll discuss this with the elders. I'll let you know when we've come to a decision.” He turned to leave, but paused to say one last thing. “I wouldn't let him off the chain. Who knows when he'll figure out when it would just be best to kill you.” With that said, he finally left. Ava flinched when she felt fur under her fingers, and she looked down to see Wes looking up at her with his head under her hand. She gave him a scratch before going to find him some breakfast. She had seen the plate was empty from last night, and was planning to give him some more raw meat. She sighed when she saw that Tavren had left the door wide open, and she debated slamming it shut. Instead, she closed it quietly, knowing that he'd be too far away to hear it. 

Her stomach growled and reminding her that she needed to eat as well. She made a quick omelet for herself, and brought both of their breakfasts into the bedroom. Wes took his gently from her before settling on the floor to eat it. She frowned at the mess it was making on the floor, but figured it couldn't be helped. He finished his breakfast before hers, and was beside the bed begging for hers before she was even halfway done. Shaking her head with a smile, she gave him half before finishing hers. After she was done, he jumped up on the bed with her, nosing his head under hand. Tentatively petting him, she wondered if he really was all wolf right now. “Wes?” she questioned, “Do you remember me?” He didn't move much, just kind of pushed into her hand. Sighing, she picked up her book again. After thinking for a second, she started reading out loud. Maybe deep down inside, Wes could still hear her. 

So she read to him for the next few hours, hoping that every time he twitched his ears meant that he was coming back. When her voice finally got tired, she set the book down and considered him. She wanted to take him outside, but didn't trust him enough not to run off. She grabbed the rope tied to him and went out into backyard, tying it to one of the posts. He glared moodily at the lead, running as far as he could and staying there. “I'm sorry,” She apologized, “I'm not taking any risks of you running off and some hunter or overeager pup hurting you.” 

She laid back, still keeping a watchful eye on Wes, and lost herself in thought. What was she going to do if Tavren went to the elders spinning lies, just because he didn't want to take the risk? She could try and fight them, sure, but it would probably just end up with both of them being killed. She looked back at Wes and wondered if he would play fetch while he was like this. It might give him some exercise. She'd have to buy one the next time she was in town. Shaking her head, she turned back to her thoughts. What to do, what to do? Threaten them, Her wolf said. Mates don't do well when one dies. She shook her head, knowing that would never work. But . . . if she could prove that Wes did recognize her and that she could keep him out of trouble until he really came back, then they couldn't do anything to him. She got up, looking to find Wes sleeping in the sun. She'd leave him outside, but the possibility of him chewing through the rope loomed over her. Sighing, she called him over, him obviously reluctantly obeying. She took him back in the bedroom, and took the rope off, letting him roam around the room. 

Hoping he wouldn't get into too much trouble in there, she left. She made her way to Tavren's house, steel in her spine as she walked up to his door and knocked. Carol opened the door, and she had a surprised look on her face. Maybe Tavren hadn't told her she was still alive. “Carol. I need to speak to the elders.” 

The older woman's eyes narrowed, though it looked more out of fear than anger. “Where is Wes?” 

Ava rolled her eyes. Really, she wasn't incompetent. “He's locked up in the cabin. I made sure there was no way he could get out. Now, the elders. How can I speak to them?”

Carol shook her head, “I can tell Tavren that you want to speak to them.” 

Ava quickly shook her head, “No offense, but I'm pretty certain he's more worried about the safety of his pack than the safety of my mate. Not that I don't understand his point of view, but I'm also not about to let anything happen to Wes.” Sighing, she gave a half hearted smile. “I need you to tell me how I can get a hold of them myself. What would you do if you were in my position?” 

She looked around as if someone was watching, and knowing Tavren there probably were. He wouldn't leave his mate unprotected with what he thought was a wild wolf running around. She ducked back into the house, leaving Ava on the front step. She came back out with a slip of paper and pressed it into her palm. “Here. I truly am sorry for what has happened.” She ducked back into the door and Ava heard the lock click. 

She tucked the phone number into her pocket and stopped at the store on the way home for a couple of tennis balls. She came back to the cabin pleased with herself. As long as Carol hadn't given her a false number just to get her off her front step, she was getting somewhere. She opened the bedroom door to find cotton everywhere, Wes sitting in the middle of it, still plucking more out of the pillow beneath his paws. “Wes!” He turned towards her with fluff still in his mouth and growled at her. Unafraid, she marched up to him and yanked what was left of the pillow away and whacked him on the nose with it. “I can't believe you did this. You're acting like a pup. I can't leave alone for two minutes.” He was obviously regaining some recognition of words because he flattened his ears and started growling. “No,” she growled back, throwing the pillow in the hallway. “You don't get to destroy things just because I had to leave you here. You're not exactly at a state where I can take you anywhere. You growl and snarl and would probably actually bite someone. God, why are you being such a dick about this? I'm doing the best I can right now.” 

She grabbed the other pillows off the bed and stormed out with them, slamming the bedroom door behind her. She carried them into the living room, leaving the destroyed one on the floor in the hallway. She pulled the number back out, and settled down on the couch, settling herself down before dialing. She took a few deep breaths as the line rang, and she felt like she could almost recognize the voice that picked up with a soft, “Hello?” 

“My name is Ava and I'm calling about my mate, Wes. I'm sure Tavren has already told you about some of what has happened, and I don't want you to only hear his side. Wes hasn't attacked me once since he's been shot, and he's already starting to make progress. He recognizes words, and he is doing things that to try and communicate with me. He obviously can't talk and he can't change back, but I'm not giving up on him, and I'm not going to let you decide to just get rid of him!” She stopped after her rant, realizing she had just yelled at the only person that might be able to help her.

“Alright, child. You have two weeks to bring him before us. He has to be obviously in his right mind, whether that mind resides in his wolf form or not.” She could hear the smile in the woman's voice, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why she was smiling. She quickly agreed to the woman's terms, however, grateful that she gave her any time at all. 

After the phone call she sighed, knowing that she needed to apologize to Wes, whether he really understood her or not. She made her way back into the bedroom, creaking the door open slowly. Wes was curled up in the corner of the room, back to the door. He obviously understood part of her angry rant earlier, but he still looked more like a chastised pup than Wes. She crossed over to him to sit beside him, reaching out a tentative hand to lay on his back. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I know that you don't exactly have too many options to communicate with me right now, but you really can't destroy stuff.” She started to pet him, and he leaned into the contact, and she figured she was probably forgiven when he flopped his head into her lap for more petting. She sighed, knowing that this was going to be a long two weeks. But things had to get better. They just had to.


	13. Chapter 13

Things did not get better. The next morning had Wes whining and pawing at her to wake her up at five in the morning. She grumbled at him to go away, but he ignored it. Or just didn't understand it. She finally got up, following him throughout the house to see him scratching at the back door. “Hang on a minute,” she said, as she went to grab the rope. When she came to attach it to his collar, he snarled at her and tried to snap at her fingers. She jerked them back just before he managed to grab a hold of the, but it was enough to fully wake her up. She smacked his nose and moved to tie him up. When he did it again, she growled at him. “You're not going outside without this. So until you can be good you can just wait.”

She left him sitting by the back door to go start breakfast, and she figured that she might try to actually cook his meat this time. She didn't want to have to keep cleaning blood off the floor. If Tavren visited unexpectedly again, she knew he would immediately think the worst. She fried up some bacon and some more eggs, deciding to get some milk and cereal into the house. She brought two plates, one for her and one for Wes, into the living room, and that's when she smelled it. “Seriously?” She asked, looking for him. She didn't have to look further than the couch, and he didn't look repentant at all. “You just had to pee on the floor, huh?” She contemplated rubbing his nose in it, like they said to do with dogs, but she couldn't actually bring herself to do it. She just stuck the breakfast in the oven, past Wes who tilted his nose up when he caught wind of it. “No. You can wait until I clean up your mess.” She got out the cleaning supplies, thankful that Wes' parents were werewolves as well, as they had the odorless, natural cleaners that didn't make her feel nauseous. She cleaned it up, constantly muttering about pups and their inability to hold their bladder.

Once she was done, she considered taking a shower before getting out their breakfast, but decided against it, as she was hungry. She got it out, settling on the couch, and set his plate on the floor. He got down and practically inhaled it before turning around and begging for hers. She ignored him, as she had given her a greater portion than she had the day before. 

She finished hers up before looking over at Wes. Did she dare put him outside while she showered? She deciding against it, since he had been acting up already. She approached him with the rope again. “Do you want to go outside?” She asked, holding out the rope again. He shied away at first, but finally inched towards her. She tied the rope around his collar and led him outside. Tying him to the pillar again, she settled beside it to read her book. He romped around in the yard a little, still testing the strength of the rope every time he thought she wasn't watching, but after a while he stopped, instead just playing. Once he grew tired, he settled at her feet, happily laying in the sun. She smiled at him before returning to her book. They stayed outside for a good couple of hours before she brought him back in. 

She brought him into the bathroom with her, and she got undressed behind the shower curtain, throwing her clothes out over the top before starting the shower. She managed to forget that Wes was in there with her, singing softly to herself as she washed her hair. She remembered, though, when his head stuck through the shower curtain and started lapping at the water at her feet. She yelled indignantly and he ducked his head back out. She hurriedly finished her shower and snatched her towel from where Wes had apparently knocked it on the floor. She got out in a towel, going to the bedroom to get dressed, firmly shutting the door behind her. Wes whined and scratched at the door for a minute before it became quiet. She tried not to get too suspicious, but she still dressed faster. When she opened the door he was laying in front of the door, his tail starting wag when he saw her. 

Sighing, she went and grabbed the ball she had bought from the store. Taking him outside again, she tied him to the rope she'd left there, and held up the ball. He looked at it distastefully for a while, until she threw it and he chased after it. He trotted back to her happily and spit the ball out at her feet. They played fetch for a long while, until he was panting and laying down every time he brought the ball back. 

She made them an easy dinner, and afterwords, she curled up with her book on the bed, reading aloud. She really hoped that it would help him come back. She ended up falling asleep, book still in hand. She woke up in the wee hours of the night, hot between being wrapped up in a hoodie, and Wes practically draped over her lap. She struggled out from beneath him and went over to the window to crack it. In the distance, she heard wolves howling almost mournfully. She turned away from the window and crawled back into bed. Wes curled back into her, and she scratched behind his ears absently. She drifted back into sleep quickly.

The next morning she took him outside first, not wanting a repeat of the day before. She left the back door open and left him outside so she could take stock of what they would need. She kept half an eye out for him while she looked, just in case. She definitely needed to get a lot more meat, if anything Wes in wolf form ate twice as much as he usually did. Plus, she needed some food that wasn't canned for her. She couldn't eat just meat, no matter how happy it would make her wolf, who was practically licking it's chops at the thought. 

She made a quick breakfast for the two of them, and then put him back in the bedroom with a strict glare. “Tear up the pillows again, and you'll sleep on the floor,” she threatened, hoping he understood the threat. Going by the way his ears didn't even twitch, she doubted it. She made her way into town, going to the grocery store to pick up her food and then going to a butcher that she knew the pack favored. She went in and asked him about what cuts he had, and ended up buying most of it. He didn't even bat an eyelash, just wrapped her items up and bagged them. She would definitely be coming back, she decided as he threw in an extra ham bone with a wink. He had probably picked up on a thing or two from working with the pack so often. She thanked him and headed home. 

She let Wes out before she put everything away, and was pleased to find that he hadn't torn anything up in her absence this time. He did get to the living room before she did, however, and she caught him sniffing at the bags from the butchers. She chastised him before putting it away, keeping the ham bone up on the counter to give him later, when he'd been good. She paused after she had thought it, feeling almost sick to her stomach at treating Wes like an ordinary dog. Even if he was acting like one at the moment, it didn't mean that he was one. He was still Wes. He was just stuck, she reminded herself. She ended up giving him the ham bone, watching him contentedly try to crack it open to get the marrow. 

She made herself a light lunch, and took it outside so that he could run around on the leash.   
She threw a ball a couple of time for him, but after a few throws, he realized that she had food on her lap. Instead of fetching the ball she'd thrown, he laid by her and rested his head on her knee to beg for food. She ignored his begging, resolutely eating what was on her plate. “You get a big breakfast and a big dinner,” she said, scratching behind his ears when he flicked them impatiently. She was really hoping that he really was showing improvement, and she wasn't just attempting to see what she wanted to see. 

Since he still seemed to have no desire to resume playing with the ball, she went inside and grabbed the book she was still reading. He wagged his tail a couple of times when he saw the book and immediately came to lay beside her again, head half in her lap. She started from where they had last left off. Absently, she wondered if this was the kind of book Wes would even read. There were parts that she thought he'd laugh at, and every once in a while he'd make the odd sound she'd long ago come to think of as his wolf laughing. 

He eventually rolled on his back, nudging at her hands and whining softly. She reached down to scratch his belly, but he wriggled away. He nipped at her fingers lightly before jumping up and bowing down into the widely accepted stance of play with me. She looked at him for a moment, book still in hand and he bounded closer and gave her a big kiss up the side of her face. She wiped off the excess saliva, a disgusted look on her face. “Ew, Wes. That was gross. It's not the same when I'm a wolf, too.” At the word wolf his ears perked up and he started prancing around, tail wagging at double the pace. She hesitated for a moment, but she figured that she could always run from him if something went wrong. He was still on the lead. 

She quickly stripped down, still shy about Wes seeing her even though he might not remember all of this when he changed back. She shifted, and it took a little longer because she was half afraid to get stuck, too, even though it couldn't really happen. By the time she was a wolf Wes was crowded into her space, sniffing at her curiously. After a moment he seemed to lose interest in her smell, and he playfully nipped her ear before dashing away. She chased after him happily, chasing him around in circles. She got tripped up in the lead a couple of times but managed to keep on her feet both times. She finally caught him and she tackled him to the grass, practically wriggling with happiness.

He leapt up and started running again, dashing away from her only to get snapped back from the lead. He yelped a little when it first caught his neck, but once he had stopped he was growling and twisting back and forth to try and get the collar off. She automatically shifted back, coming over to him and making him sit, although she had to use all of her weight to do so. “Wes, stop it.” He growled again, baring his teeth at her and she tapped him on the nose. “Stop it. This is as much to keep you safe as it is everyone else. Do you really think anyone from the pack would hesitate to hurt you if you were running towards them right now?” Sighing, she untied him from the lead, taking him back inside with a firm grip on his collar. His ears were flattened back the entire time, and once they were in the house he curled up in the corner with his back to her. 

Ava busied herself with cleaning again, the hair that Wes was shedding seeming to get onto everything, even the kitchen counter. “I swear, if I catch you up on the counters you'll be in trouble,” she threatened, but he didn't even bat an ear. Shaking her head, she returned to cleaning. She tried to keep an eye on Wes, just in case his pouting turned into him destroying something but he just kept laying on the floor quietly. 

She made dinner, but he didn't come up to her when she set their plates on the coffee table in the living room. “Wes,” she called softly, and she saw his ears twitch a little, but he still didn't get up. “Wes, come here.” She tried again, and this time he reluctantly got up, coming to sit beside her. He whined softly, pawing at his nose. She reached over and took off the collar. “I know, Wes. I know.” She pushed his plate closer to him, not setting it on the floor this time. He licked her hand before slowly starting to eat his dinner. She followed suit, but she was more lost in thought than she was eating. Wes really seemed to become more and more himself every day, and she knew she could get him to the point that no one would even question that it was him, not just a rabid wolf driven by the hunter's poison. 

The next several days followed their odd little routine of food, reading, and playing outside. She kept her ventures into town limited, not wanting to leave Wes alone too long in case someone from the pakc came along with some idea in their head to hurt him, or some hunters found their cabin. She was also doing her best to try and avoid running into her parents. She'd also thought about just going to a grocery store out of town just to keep that awkward reunion at bay.

As the days passed, Wes became more and more like himself. There were some downsides to that, though. As he became more and more aware of himself, he'd go into fits where he'd just lay there and sulk, barely even eating let alone play outside with her. She couldn't bring herself to ask him to play fetch with her anymore. Not with him obviously agonizing over not being able to shift back. She had taken to shifting with him and trying to get him to chase her, but he didn't seem to have the energy for it, despite all the time he spent sleeping. 

One particular day, she found him sitting in front of the glass doors to the back yard, staring at his reflection. She came over and sat beside him, leaning against him. “After this meeting, the pack will help us find a way to fix this.” She promised. He just sighed and laid down by her side, resting his head on her knee. They watched the sun fall behind the trees together.


	14. Chapter 14

Ava woke and she immediately remembered where she had to go today. The text she had received with the details had said that the meeting wouldn't start until an hour after dusk, so she had the whole day to worry about how it would go. She went through their normal routine as slowly as she could, trying to drag the day on. She didn't feel ready for the coming night, and she knew Wes could tell. Every few minutes he was giving her hands a kiss, or bumping against her legs. She gave him a small smile each time, and while it did make her feel a little better, she was still nervous. 

Once the sun started to set, she finally gathered up the things they would need. She didn't bother with Wes' leash or collar, not seeing the point in digging them up just for the gathering. She went out to the truck, and Wes jumped in before her, sitting in the passenger seat. She drove to the address she was given and parked. They would probably have to walk a long ways, and she wished they could have parked closer, just in case things didn't go as planned. When they got out, she followed Wes, trusting his nose to find the pack. 

She held her head tall as she walked into the circle the pack made. Wes was at her side, keeping her pace even though she knew the wolf side of him wanted to snarl and snap. She made it all the way up to Aldona without bothering to look at anyone else. Tavren was at her side, flipping between glaring at her and eying Wes warily. Aldona smiled softly at her, and beckoned her to come closer with Wes. Wes sat right in front of the older woman, let her lay her hand on his head. Ava tensed for a moment, but relaxed when she scratched behind his ears. She spoke up, loud enough for everyone in the clearing to hear. “Does this look like a wild beast? A mindless wolf come to steal away your children and kill your husbands?” Shaking her head, she stepped past Wes. “We've let the hunters make us what they've always feared, mindless beasts. Let them shape our fears until they took hold and became real. This wolf is the same as he always was, just stuck in his pelt. He is no different. He has not attacked anyone, and yet, you still want me to sentence him to death, I know you do.” She turned a hard eye on Tavren, “Just because you're frightened.” She shook her head again, and went to sit back in her chair. “But I will not. We will find him a way to shift back.”

Ava could have cried at her declaration. The past two weeks and both been terrifying and stressful and they were over. She knew that the pack wouldn't go against her now that she had spoken. Wes would be safe from them, at least. The hunters were another story. Now that it was all said and done, she could have dropped into sleep right then. But she managed to make it back to the truck, Wes in tow. She went back to the cabin and immediately went into the bedroom and fell asleep. 

–

The next morning she received a call from Carol, who had apparently gotten her number from Aldona. She asked if they would come over to the house, that something had happened. She woke Wes up and they made the drive into town. She felt a little nervous taking Wes in with her, but she figured she could just try and pass him off as a husky mix, a husky wolf mix if they pressed. He stuck close by her, doing his best to imitate what a dog would be doing. She almost started laughing when he started sniffing at the ground. She knocked on the front door and looked around cautiously. Carol gave her a grim smile when she opened the door and invited them inside. 

“You probably should have left Wes at home.” Ava just shrugged in reply, settling a hand on Wes' back. Carol just sighed, and invited them to sit in the living room. Ava drank in the sight of the plush couch, the home decorations. “We were attacked last night. Thankfully only a couple of us were there, and they fended them off rather quickly. No damage was done to the pack house, and no one got hurt. I just wanted to warn you to be extra careful for the next few days.” She gave Wes a serious glance. “Perhaps leave him at home when you leave the house. No need to arouse suspicion by having him with you.” Ava thanked her for the warning, and made a quick exit with Wes on her heels. She took them back home, and they stayed there for the rest of the day.

–

Things were calm after the attack, and Ava was on edge for the next few days. Aldona kept saying it was the eye of the storm, and that she was waiting for it to sneap up behind her. Ava was practically glued to Wes' side, not letting him roam too far away. They spent a good portion of their time with Wes's family, now that they weren't afraid of Wes ravaging everything. Ava felt a pang of hurt every time she saw how happy Wes was to be around them. She knew it had been years since he'd seen any of his family, and some of them he hadn't even met yet. And it was all her fault. 

All the ones that she had known, all the little ones, were mostly grown now. Wes was attentive to all his family members, but he spent the most time with the new little ones. They played tag, and Wes would chase them when they turned into their pelt. Most of the pack shied away from her. She didn't smell like family like Wes did. Sometimes the pups would come up and sniff at her but they'd dart away as soon as she moved. 

Wes would come up and sit by her every once in a while, until she shooed him away with a small smile. Things were going well, or at least, as well as they could. Ava stopped looking behind her back every few minutes. She let Wes stray a little further each day.

Of course that's when the hunters attacked again. Ava and Wes were at the cabin when it happened, so they didn't see anything. But thankfully the pack ran them off quickly, and no one got hurt. But no one included the hunters, as well. Everyone was tense the next day, but it wore off over the next couple of days when nothing else happened.

Until the hunters attacked again a week later, and a few days after that, and a week after that. Most of the pack was holed up at the main pack house, on edge and jumpy. Even the pups were looking over their shoulders when they went outside. There had been a few minor casualties the past couple of skirmishes, but nothing serious. No one was sleeping much, and Tavren had started a patrol around the edges of the property. 

Ava and Wes went over one day, bringing cookies for everyone, hoping to lift their spirits a little. Tavren was still stand offish, she couldn't decide of he was feeling guilty, or still didn't trust Wes. Carol came up to her, however, and started pouring glasses of milk to go with the baked goods. She sat there talking quietly with her, smiling as different pack members came in and out of the kitchen to grab some more cookies. She was happy they were actually eating them, but it probably helped that the alpha female was sitting in here with her. 

“They're just not sure whether it's safe to get close to you,” Carol said, stealing a cookie off one of the plates. “Most of them remember what happened all those years ago, and the little ones can always tell when the adults aren't happy. Don't take any offense to it. They'll eventually warm up to you.”

Ava shrugged unhappily. “They never warmed up to be before, I doubt they will now.” 

“Well, before you were distracting Wes from the pack. He was becoming distant, and a lot of the time he was supposed to be spending with Bailey, he was spending with you.” She looked down at her plate, “I guess we've never been too welcoming, even after you were changed.”

“It's in the past, and I think it's worked out alright. Y'know, aside from bringing hunters to your doorstep. I- We didn't know where else to go.” 

Carol smiled softly, “It's alright. This is still Wes's pack, and pack is family. We don't turn away our own just because it's going to make things difficult.”

Ava started to say something else, but got distracted when Wes's head popped up. His hackles were raised, and he gave a warning bark before he shot off through the house. Ava practically tripped over herself as she went to follow him, dread sinking in. She heard the sounds of a conflict before she made it out the back door, and once she made it outside, she saw Wes in the thick of it and her heart stopped. She froze and wasn't sure what to do. She'd never been trained like the rest of the pack had, never been trained how to fight against hunters in her pelt. 

She looked over to see a hunter notice her on the step, and he moved to aim his gun at her. She watched helplessly as he got ready to fire. And then she felt arms wrap around her waist and she went flying back through the screen door. She looked up to find a furious Wes looking down at her. A furious human Wes staring at her. “What the hell were you doing?” He demanded, obviously not paying attention that he had shifted back. “Stay inside, where it's safe.” He instructed before running back out the door, and she just caught a glimpse of him shifting back into his fur. 

The next moment Carol was beside her, helping her to her feet and shutting the back door. “Come on, I could use your help with the pups.” Ava let herself be led into the basement, which was more like a family room than anything else. There was some cartoon on the tv, and the little ones were fully entertained by it, but some of the older ones kept glancing up at the ceiling worriedly. Ava helped Carol start some crafts with the older ones, making snowflakes and other winter decorations to hang up around the house. Having a more hands on activity seemed to keep them entertained better. It seemed like forever before they heard footsteps upstairs. A couple of the women went to stand by the stairs, waiting to see who it was that was coming down, and Carol was gathering all of the children into the other room with the temptation of snacks. 

Ava just stood in the middle of the room dumbly, scissors still in hand when the footsteps started down the stairs. She held her breath for the final few steps, and when Wes rounded the corner she didn't know what to do. The women relaxed, and went into the other room with the children, obviously trying to give her and Wes some time alone. She just stood there as he came up to her, until he was right in front of her. Then she pushed him away. “You idiot!” She said as she hit his chest again. “You finally changed back and what do you do? You run off to go fight hunters and shift right back. What if you couldn't do it again?”

He gathered her close and held her tight. “I'm sorry.” he murmured, holding her close. She started crying, and she let him hold her close. She was so happy that he was finally back, and safe. “Come on, why don't we go home?” She looked around the basement, lingering at the door where she knew the children were. “There wasn't much to clean up, they should be fine.” She only hesitated for a moment before nodding, letting him lead her back to the truck. She saw Tavren leaning against one of the walls outside as they were leaving. She saw him duck his head before they were too far away to see. 

She stared at Wes for a long while before finally giving in and going to press herself up against his side. “I wasn't sure if I was ever going to see you again.” He glanced down at her and wrapped an arm around her. “Like this, I mean. I know you were still you but . . . “ She trailed off, not sure how to finish the thought. They were quiet for the rest of the ride back to the cabin, and Ava let herself be led to the bedroom. 

Wes wrapped her up in blankets, and made sure she was comfortable before he crawled in beside her. “How about I read to you, tonight?” He asked, and she nodded, curling into him and rested her head on his shoulder. He opened the book where she had last left off and started reading. She felt herself drifting off, and his voice followed her into her dreams. 

She dreamt she was in the forests surrounding the cabin, through the trees she had come to find herself so familiar with the past few weeks. She knew Wes was there, just out of sight. She had love to be chased when they were in high school, right after she'd been changed. She remembered long afternoons when she would run from Wes and he would chase after her. She ran so long that she found she was in a part of the woods she didn't recognize. And the pack was howling in the distance, only it wasn't joyful. It was . . . warning her against something. She turned around in a circle, waiting for Wes to catch up with her. Only he never came. 

She started running back towards the way she had come, but she only went further and further into the unfamiliar trees. Gunshots echoed in the distance, and her heart plummeted. She raced as fast as she could to the source of the sound. She kept running and running and she could hear Wes howling for her but she couldn't make it. Couldn't move fast enough to catch up. 

She jolted up in bed, heart pounding. She took a few shallow breaths before making herself look around the room. Wes was laying in bed beside her, book held loosely in his hand and he was slumped awkwardly. She took the book out of his hands and set it aside before shaking him gently. He stirred enough to blink his eyes awake, and he seemed to sharpen when he saw her. “Ava? What's wrong?” He sat up stared at her in concern. “Hey, Spatzi, talk to me.”

She shook her head, letting him envelope her into his arms. “Just a dream.” She mumbled into his shirt, which she had gripped tightly in her hands. Wes didn't press, instead just running his hands up and down her back. He coaxed her to lay down again and they layed in silence for a while. Every time Ava started to fall asleep, she jerked back awake, eyes immediately searching for Wes. After a while, she seemed to settle down from the dream, accepting the fact that he wasn't going anywhere. She fell asleep before Wes, again. He did his best to stay awake long enough to make sure she wasn't having another nightmare before letting sleep drag him down as well. 

–

When Ava woke up the next morning, she almost didn't want to open her eyes. She was half afraid that the previous day was some sort of twisted dream, and that Wes was still a wolf. She opened them cautiously, however, when she felt movement from the other side of the bed and a warm arm wrap around her waist. “Morning,” Wes murmured, his voice gravelly with sleep. 

“Morning,” she managed back, gripping his arm tightly. “I was almost afraid I'd dreamt everything.” She confessed, thankful that she was facing away from him. He sat up on one arm, however, and turned her onto her back. 

“Hey,” he started, his eyes crinkled in concern. “I'm here. I'm alright.” He smoothed some of her hair back from her face. “I'm fine, because of you.” She scoffed a little, the tears she hadn't shed the day before welling up in her eyes. “Seriously. Do you think anyone else would have stopped Tavren that day? They would have let him take care of it and not thought twice.” She let out a shuddering breath and wiped a hand across her face to get rid of the tears. “So, if I'm okay, it's only because of you.” He leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Thank you.” 

She just shrugged, leaning into him again to bury her face. Everything that had happened the past few weeks seemed to weigh upon her, and she felt her walls crumple. She'd been managing to hold it together for so long, that it was a relief to finally let go. Wes just held her as she cried, stroking her back soothingly. Ever once in a while he would murmur soft words to her, that only half made sense. She felt comforted anyways, and after several minutes, she stopped crying. She wiped her face off and cautiously faced Wes. 

He just smiled gently, “I'm going to go make you breakfast. You just stay here, okay?” She nodded, pulling the blankets up around her and curling up on her side to watch him walk from the room. As she heard the sounds from him in the kitchen, she played with the hem of the sheet, feeling the texture between her finger tips. After a while, she found herself starting to drift off again, and she couldn't tell how much time had passed by the time Wes had come back in. He had found a lap tray somewhere, and had made her eggs and toast and coffee.

“You always remember just how I like everything,” she murmured, taking a bite of the food. He disappeared for a moment before coming back in with his own plate. He shrugged at her words, opting to eat his breakfast instead. 

He convinced her to leave the dishes afterwards, setting the tray down on the floor beside the bed. Ava let Wes curl into her. “There's no need for you to do anything today. Why don't you just rest?” She tried to protest, but he just kept shushing her softly. “You've been trying to take care of everything, just relax for a while. The peace isn't going to last long, so we might as well take advantage of it while we can.”

She let him pull the covers back up around her, and she slept off and on the entire day. Most of the time when she drifted awake, however alert she was, Wes was nearby. Half the time he was on the phone, probably trying to smooth things over either back home or with the pack here. The other times he was further away, and she couldn't tell what he was doing. She hadn't been sleeping well ever since they returned back home, and her body tried to take advantage of the fact that she was resting. 

The next time she woke up, it was just past dusk. Wes was sitting on the edge of the bed, arms rested on his knees. She sat up, leaning over to touch him on the shoulder gently. “Wes? What's wrong?”

He turned to her with a small smile on his face, and he cupped her face softly. “I'm leaving here in a little bit, okay?” She shook her head, not understanding where he would go at this hour. “Tavren's gathering up a group of us to go and find the hunters.” She jerked back, the last of the sleepiness in her muscles disappearing. “Hey,” he tried to soothe, reaching for her again.

But she just moved away from his hands, “What do you mean you're going to look for the hunters. You've only just turned back. And now you're going to go run off on some stupid errand for Tavren just because he calls?”

“He is my alpha.” Wes interrupted softly.

“No,” Ava shook her head slowly, “He's not. I know for a fact that you ignored him when he tried to make you come home. It was after that terrible sixth floor apartment I had. One of the times you were chasing me you got distracted, and I stuck around to see what could have gotten your attention like that.” She remembered the night vividly, half afraid that Wes was going to go on some sort of spree in the middle of the city. Instead he had taken a phone call, loitering near the entrance to the alley Ava was currently hiding in. 

“He was angry at me for leaving in the first place.” He murmured, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. “He was telling me that mom was worried sick, and that Bailey was still hanging around here and was accepting the lousy lies they were telling her about where I'd been. About how I should hurry back home before she left and I messed up my future.” He sighed heavily, running a hand over his face. “About how even though we had mated, that there were ways that they could be gotten rid of.” His voice was carefully flat the entire time, although she could read the tension in his shoulders. 

“You defied him then.” She thought about how he'd thrown the phone, it crashing into the wall scant feet from where she was crouched. How she had just enough time to hear Tavren's angry voice that had still made her wolf cower for a moment before it heard Wes' terrible growl. It had died moments later, and her wolf decided then and there that Wes was it's alpha. And if she had any guess, it was when Wes' wolf decided it didn't need an alpha anymore.

“You defied him then and you can now. We both know that you haven't had an alpha for a long time.” He just sighed, keeping his back towards her. “You're just deciding to go along with what he says, and I don't understand why! It's not going to be easy to figure out where they are, and even if you do, what are you going to do then? Charge in and just start mauling people?” He stayed eerily silent, and she suddenly grew furious. “Seriously? After all that talk about how you've changed, and how you're not ruled by the moon like a pup anymore and all it takes is an old alpha to snarl at you and you've shown your belly? Decided to go against all those things you claimed not to do anymore and you're just – you're just giving in!” She got out of bed, not even sure what to say to him.

She swung the bedroom door open and made her way out to the back yard, ever thankful that they were completely alone out here. She sat up against the house, as far away from the door as she could, and stared up at the waning moon. Soon, she thought, it might turn into a cheshire grin again, and she didn't know what it would bring this time. Only that it would bring more trouble. She stayed out for a long while, even when the air began to cool, and the hairs on her arms stood up from the cold. She wrapped her arms around herself, still too stubborn to go inside. 

She heard the back door open, and she tilted her head back up to the moon and closed her eyes. She felt a blanket drape over her, and she opened her eyes to see Wes looking at her with concern. “Honestly, what are you expecting me to do? The hunters have been attacking the pack ever since we came back. Ever since we came here.” He sighed, sitting down beside her. “Even if Tavren isn't my alpha, the pack is still my family, and if I can help them, I will.” He turned to look at her. “If I can protect you, I will. They saw your face just like they saw mine. If we don't take care of them now, we'll never be safe from them. They'll never stop hunting us.” He looked down at his hands as he continued, “I was doing pretty good the past few towns, making sure to scare you just enough to send you running to the next town and out of the way of hunters.” He shrugged sheepishly when she turned to stare at him. “I told you I've changed. Why would I keep doing the same things unless they had an ulterier purpose? They've been looking for us for a while now. I'd just been good at getting us out before they could find us. Until recently, that is.” 

She was still angry at him, and although she could understand where he was coming from there were a lot of reasons that he hadn't gone about it in the right way. Although, when did he ever do anything the right way? She sighed softly, grabbing the blanket around her closer. “You should have just told me when you first started noticing them. You didn't think we could have come up with a different solution other than chasing me out of town?” She shook her head, “I just . . . how is anything about this whole situation good?”

“We're finally talking again.” He said, looking up at the stars. “I can barely remember the last time we did this.” He paused before continuing. “Actually, I'm pretty sure that the last time we watched the stars together was when we came here.” It was a couple of weeks before that dance, she remembered. They'd gone for a run together in their skin, chasing each other and playing tag. They'd gotten themselves lost and Wes convinced her to climb up onto the biggest rock they could find to watch the stars together. It had been the perfect date. 

She sighed, “So let me get this straight. In order to 'protect' me you're going to put yourself in danger and possibly not get to see me anymore.” He didn't answer her, and she nodded to herself. “Alright, fine. Obviously you're not going to listen to me, so do whatever you want. I hope nothing bad happens, and you had better be extra careful.” 

He nodded and he leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss, hand resting on her cheek when he pulled away. “I love you, Spatzi.” He murmured softly as he ran his thumb across the wet trails on her cheek. She didn't have a chance to say it back before he shifted and ran towards the howls she heard off in the distance. 

She didn't stay in the back yard long, getting into the truck and driving into town. She parked on the side of the street and all but storming up to the front door. She banged on the door frame, practically fuming now. Carol cracked the door open cautiously, and Ava tilted her head. “Aren't you going to let me inside?” She tried to keep her voice as level as possibly, but she could tell that it didn't work as well as she had hoped. 

Carol opened the door, and she stepped out of the way so she could come inside. “I'm guessing this isn't a social visit?” She asked dryly. Ava just made her way into the living room, sitting down on the couch and lounging like she was completely calm. “By all means, make yourself at home.” She added, sitting across from her. 

“You didn't think to talk Tavren out of doing this? Of him recruiting Wes the day after he finally shifted back? What if he gets stuck again? What if they shoot him with the same toxin and he's stuck this etime, and he slaughters them himself? What if they find more than they can handle when they get there?” She had sat up at this point and was gesturing wildly. “Gods, did anyone think this through? At all?”

Carol rolled her eyes, and Ava felt the power in her voice when she started talking. “Of course I thought about trying to stop him. Do you think I want my mate running towards the biggest danger we've seen in years? Of course not.” With every word, she used a little bit more of that authority that all alphas carried. “And of course he called on Wes. He's always been one of the strongest wolves of the pack, and he had the opportunity to say no. It was his choice.” She sat back, obviously thinking that Ava was going to be sufficiently cowed. She was honestly beginning to get a little bit of vicious amusement out of proving alphas wrong. 

“But it was Tavren's choice to even ask him. He knew Wes would feel guilty about practically leading the hunters here. Whatever happened to the pack 'doing the best for family?'” She narrowed her eyes, “Or does that only apply when you don't have to put yourself in danger?” 

Carol stood and furiously pointed at the door. “Get out of my house.” She demanded, and Ava purposely stared at her for a moment before getting up slowly to walk to the front door. Carol stayed in the living room, shaking slightly from her anger, and she flinched when Ava slammed the front door shut on her way out. 

Ava got back into the truck and started on her way back to the cabin. Once she got there, she sat in the cab of the truck, not really wanting to go inside. So she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Ruthie's number slowly. She heard the cautious hello from the other side and practically cried in relief. “Hey, Ruthie. It's, uh, Ava.” 

She immediately started getting scolded, “Why on earth haven't you called before? Do you know how worried I've been about you two? Not to mention the fact that you ran off with no explanation and all I got was a call that barely told me anything, other than that werewolves were real and that you guys had run off from people that were hunting you like animals.”

Ava shook her head, wishing she could see Ruthie in person, knowing that she'd make her feel at least a little better. “I'm sorry Ruthie. There's just been so much going on here lately.” She then proceeded to tell her all about what had happened. About how Wes had been forced to stay into his shift, and how awful it was to try and figure out how to deal with the pack and Wes at the same time while he wasn't really himself. How Wes finally shifted back once she was in danger, and how immediately after he ran right back into that same danger himself. “And now he's gone and followed Tavren into the woods to try and find where they're camping out. And gods above, if they do find it they're just going to rush in and try to take everyone out without really knowing what they're up against.” She was gripping the steering wheel tightly in one hand, worried about her mate. “They had that terrible poison, who's to say they don't have more? That they don't have worse ones?”

“Calm down,” Ruthie interrupted her speech, and made a couple of soothing sounds. “Look, they're going to be fine. I mean, come on. They're 'creatures of the night' for crying out loud. I highly doubt they're going to let some mad scientist of hunters take them out. Besides, I highly doubt Wes is going to let something as stupid as hunters come between wooing you or whatever it is he's doing.” She paused for a moment. “Because I don't understand what the hell you two are doing anyways.” Ava choked out a laugh, and the knot in her stomach began to untie a little. “Look, do you have someplace to go with other people there? Like some community place that the pack hangs out or something. I'm sure you're not the only one left behind worrying.”

Ava murmured a yes, and started up the truck again. She stayed on the phone with Ruthie on the drive to the pack house. Once she arrived, she said a quick goodbye and thank you. She took a deep breath before going inside. She found a bunch of the women of the pack that she mostly recognized, but she hadn't really talked to much. She took a tentative step into the kitchen, and one of them looked up. “Did Wes go, too?” She asked, garnering the attention of the other women. Ava nodded, still hesitating in the door. “Come sit down, child. Have a cup of tea.”

She took a seat near the door, next to a kind looking woman that couldn't be too much older than she was. “They're supposed to be meeting back up here when they're done.” She poured her a cup from the kettle that was sitting in the middle of the table, on a miniature stove top. There was already a tea bag in the bottom, and she didn't bother with adding sugar before taking a small sip. “We usually all get together here and worry about them until they get back.” She explained to Ava, who was still taking drinks of the tea, unsure of what to say.

“We got in a fight right before he left,” she blurted, setting the cup down and staring at the tea leaves at the bottom. “I didn't want him to go. He's only just shifted back, and he's already throwing himself right back at the thing that hurt him in the first place.” She shook her head, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. “I just . . . it's been such a rough time the past few years. And it finally seemed like everything was going okay for us and then those damned hunters showed up.” She looked up at the other woman, her mouth twisting into a frown. “I'm sorry that we brought them here. I know the pack has gotten hurt, and that's never what I wanted.” 

The older woman waved away her worries. “No matter, dear. You're both pack still, even if you haven't been home in quite a few years. And no one should have to deal with hunters on their own. That's what packs are for. We're family.” She patted her shoulder comfortingly, and Ava took a deep breath, wiping away the tears that were threatening to fall. 

She spent the next couple of hours talking to her, learning about the different families inside of the pack, and how they were related, if at all. There were quite a few more families that had just joined the pack and weren't related at all than Ava had realized. Only a couple of them had come after she'd left. Everyone in the pack still referred to them as cousins, though, so it wasn't surprising that Ava hadn't known. She also learned which little ones belonged to which adults, and they turned it into a game of matching the parents to their children. 

As it started to get later and later, some of the women left the tables to go and get some sleep. Ava stayed at the kitchen table with a few other women. None of them seemed to be calm enough to sleep, still too worried. The chatter between the women softened, and despite herself, Ava could feel exhaustion creeping into her bones. She switched to a tea that had more caffeine in it to try and help her stay alert. There was every bit of a chance that the hunters could be led back to the house.

It was the howling that alerted them. Even the ones that had went to bed were coming outside, standing just beyond the tree line to see who was coming. One by one the pack came running back, some streaked with blood, and some carrying limps and other injuries. The women ran to their mates, and Ava watched them all with jealousy and worry knotting in her stomach. She didn't see Wes, didn't hear his call in the midst of the other howls. She watched as the howling quieted as most of them had already shifted back into their skin. She barely gave them a second glance, all of her focus on that dark tree line. Finally, she saw a dark shadow that almost looked familiar, and Wes came trotting out of the tree line. 

He was covered in blood, and she rushed to his side, checking him over for injuries. The only one she saw was a scratch on one of his shoulders. He didn't shift back immediately, and she automatically started panicking. What if they had gotten him with one of their poisons again? What if this time he didn't shift back? He shook off her hands and walked away from her, enough space that he felt comfortable to shift back. She immediately grabbed him up in a hug, not caring that she was staining her clothes, or that he didn't have anything on, or that the pack was probably watching them. “I really hate you sometimes,” she mumbled, gripping him tighter.

He laughed softly, “As long as you love me the rest of the time, I guess.” He hugged her back tightly, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “Why don't we go home? I think I need a shower.” She laughed, it catching in her throat a little. She led him back to the truck, where she'd brought him some clothes. He just put on pants, not wanting to ruin the rest. They hadn't really brought a whole lot with them, anyways. 

The drive was quiet. Ava didn't want to know what happened in the woods. Didn't care as long as Wes came home safe. As long as no one else was going to come and try to hurt them or the pack again. Wes reached over and held her hand at one of the red lights, thumb rubbing across the soft skin. She stared at it for a moment before a car behind her honked, and she guiltily snapped her eyes back onto the road, blushing a little. 

They made it back to the cabin without any other incidents. Wes bee lined for the shower, and Ava just sat on the couch, thinking. It seemed like no time at all before Wes was out of the shower and back by her side. He was standing beside the couch, looking at her almost nervously. “It's . . . weird. Being human again after so long. I almost want to shift into my pelt.” He finally sat beside her, resting his elbows on his knees. “Everything was easier. We were easier.”

Ava looked over at him, biting her lip nervously. “I want to try. With us, I mean.” She watched his expression carefully, almost afraid that he was going to reject her. Instead he looked at her carefully, watching her back, like he didn't believe that it was real. That she was really asking him this. “I want to go home. I want to make a pack with you and run in those trees, and not hunt alone anymore. I want all of those things you said the night of that stupid party.”

He grinned widely, grabbing her up into a hug. He kissed her, and she finally kissed him back, after all these years. He convinced her to go on a run with him, arguing that it was the only way to celebrate. She rolled her eyes at him, but went along with it, following him out into the backyard and shifting into her pelt. She immediately took off running, making Wes chase after her. She did her best to evade him, using every trick she knew to try and throw him off her scent, all the things she had used against him the past several years. She tore through streams and ponds and every bit of water she could find, before finally running down the length of one to try and keep her scent trail to a minimum. She doubted she had much of a head start, and that he would probably catch up with her soon, anyways. But it was fun to make him work for it. 

She heard his howl, and she found some suitable underbrush that she could squeeze herself under to wait and hide. She waited no more than five or ten minutes before Wes came running past, following the creek as she had, his nose lifted into the air to try and catch her scent. He saw him pause for a moment a few feet away from her, but she let out the breath she was holding when he kept going. She decided to wait a few more minutes before she headed back in the other direction, content to lay there for a little while longer. 

She had just started to creep back out when something nipped at her tail. She spun around, already growling, to find Wes behind her, chuffing out a laugh. She flattened her ears, irritable that he'd tricked her like that and managed to sneak up on her. He came over and rubbed up against her in apology, licking her ear. He bowed down to her, wagging his tail before taking off in the opposite direction. She chased after him, trying to keep him in her sight. She knew that he had a lot more tricks up his sleeve than she did, and that she probably wouldn't find him again if she lost sight of him. She finally managed to catch up to him, and tackled him to the ground. She pranced around him, happy that she had caught him. He just lay on his back for a moment, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted. 

After a moment, he got back up, nudging her to try and get her to go in the direction he wanted. She let him lead her back to the cabin. They paused every now and again to chase some small wildlife, not really intending to do anything more than having a small bit of fun before they resumed their walk. Ava was growing tired, as the hour now creeped towards dawn. She had been up for most of the night, and all of the worrying had really taken it's toll. She slowed down in her walk, and Wes whined softly. She shook her fur, trying to shake off the exhaustion as well, and managed to make it back to the cabin, even though she had thought about laying down just were she was. They settled in by the door, still in the pelts, to watch the sun rise. Ava rested her head on Wes's paws, soaking in the warmth from his fur. As the sun grew higher and higher, her eyelids dropped lower and lower until she was asleep. Things weren't all sorted out yet, they still had a lot to figure out. Ruthie still needed filled in on what all had happened, not to mention they had to make sure Garrett was okay. But for now, her wolf was content. Things had finally started to work out, and they could only get better from here. Wes rested his head on Ava's back, content to watch over her while she slept, at least until he could move her inside.

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, thanks for taking the time to give this a try? Honestly, I'm just hoping for some feedback at all. I know this is so rough, and so rushed. There's so many plot points that I left out because I didn't have enough ambition throughout the month last year. Anyways, any love or feedback is much appreciated.


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